


Peripheral

by opposedplanet



Category: My Time At Portia (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Dark, F/M, How Do I Tag, Kidnapping, Magic but not really magic, Night Terrors, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 08:34:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 71,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19902847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opposedplanet/pseuds/opposedplanet
Summary: Growing up her mother always cautioned her to secrecy, claiming that most of the magic in the world was hidden.  Maya knew she was special, but she didn't know how much danger that would put her in until she got to Portia, where the real monsters weren’t even in the ruins.  Looking back, there was a lot she didn't know.





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be pretty long and eventually end up outside of the events of the game, and it'll probably get pretty dark from there because Aadit is my favorite romance partner and I'm exploring how that relationship would progress and then fall apart and then after. You know. After.
> 
> Also, all of these mistakes are mine. My usual pre-reader is refusing to slog through something this long for a game he hasn't played, so forgive any extra commas and maybe any missing commas, because I know I have a problem but I TRIED to fix it.

The letter inviting her to take over the workshop in Portia came two days after her Aunt’s funeral, after two days in a too quiet home, after two days of sorting through a lifetime’s worth of crap in a house she didn’t have the money to pay the mortgage on anymore. 

Initially she’d thrown it in the trash and gone back to packing. Her father, after all, hadn’t shown up to help with his sister’s declining health or, at the end, to help make preparations for the funeral. Maya had penned dozens of letters asking for him and a bitter part of her figured if he couldn’t do her the courtesy of reading her notes, why should she look at his?

It took a few hours for guilt and curiosity to eat through her apathy, but a little after sunset she dug through the bin and sat on the floor in the kitchen to read. And then reread. And then an angry third time through tears and shaking hands.

_Maya,_

_I am sorry to hear about Kendra. She may have been my baby sister, but she was always the more responsible of us. I'm sure she loved you dearly._

_I will briefly be in a small town called Portia in the spring. Please join me. I was once a builder there, and I never sold the workshop. I would like for you to have it. News from Barnarock has me nervous that it is no place for someone like you._

_I will see you soon,_

_Pa_

By the time night had settled and her tears had dried, she didn’t have the energy to be angry with his implication. Damn straight Kendra had loved her, because her aunt was as much a victim of his bullshit as she was. 

' _You're not my_ real _dad,'_ she thought, a little hysterical. 

She could practically hear her mother scolding her for the thought.

_Now, dear_ , she'd say, _your father is a good man._

Maya sighed. It was a little too late to point out that her mother had bought into a fancy lie. 

Still, if she sold the house it should be enough to settle up on her aunt’s debts, with hopefully enough leftover to get her away from the grief soaked streets of her childhood.

' _Besides_ ,' she thought, wallowing in her resentment and looking around the dark, ' _I haven’t seen Pa in ages.'_


	2. Spring, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maya meets some people, does some things, and pukes on some shoes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I need to tell you guys that I don't own anything about MTAP, but, you know, I don't.
> 
> I recognize that I'm playing with the events of some of the quests and the timing of them. Forgive me?
> 
> The rating on this it mostly for safety for now, because I'm honestly not sure what I can get away with on a teen rating. I'm not _planning_ to write any smut, but who _knows._
> 
> Also, these mistakes? Still mine. Let me know if anything really bothers you, though. Does anyone else get weird spacing around italics? Is that because I mostly write on my phone?

She wasn’t surprised. Disappointed, yes, but her father neglecting to show up wasn’t worth the effort to be shocked over.

“I _am_ sorry,” Presley offered with an awkward pat to her shoulder. He seemed like a nice guy, though clearly uncomfortable with the family drama Pa had put him in the middle of. 

“Don’t worry about it."

“Well. Why don’t I leave you to get settled here, and I’ll see you bright and early at the Commerce Guild for your builders exam? It's the big building directly across when you walk through the gate there. Can't miss it."

"Sure thing. Thank you for everything. I really appreciate how kind you've been."

"Think nothing of it. It's been many years since I've been to Barnarock, but I think you'll find Portia much more… welcoming. Guild opens at 8. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye," Maya watched the well dressed man until he passed through the town gate, before she turned to have a look at the rundown little house. 

' _Oh man,_ ' she thought, ' _t_ _his is gonna be some work._ '

The inside wasn't better than the outside and she tripped over a hole in the floor before she managed the light switch. There wasn't much to see. It was a single room with a bed in the corner next to a small dresser, a kitchenette on one wall, and a door leading off to the bathroom. 

She tossed her suitcase onto the bed and dug through for her only thin sweater. Once she fixed the floor it probably wouldn't be so drafty, but Portia definitely didn't have anything on the desert heat.

"Well, welcome home," she said to the empty room. She sorted her few things into drawers, then folded herself on to the bed to flip through the few sparse pages of Pa's old handbook.

She ignored the rumbling of her stomach until it felt like a gnawing ache and the light through the window had turned orange and cast long shadows across the bare wood boards. When she finally went to poke in the cupboards, they were predictably empty. 

Maya considered just going to bed and dealing with it in the morning, but breakfast was a distant memory and she'd been too nervous about the boat ride to eat lunch. After a moment's hesitation she shoved her wallet in her back pocket and kicked the door shut on her way out, following the route into town she'd seen Presley walk before.

It was so quiet. 

Portia was tiny compared to Barnarock, where noise filled the streets and there was a certain amount of anonymity in the crowd. Walking through the gate, she caught a few appraising looks from a jacked looking guy doing push-ups in front of the fountain and an older man doing what she thought might be jiu jitsu. She gave them a curt nod, willing to wander until she found a restaurant, when she spotted Presley jogging toward her. 

It was pathetic how relieved she was to see him. 

"Ah, Maya, I didn't expect you in town until tomorrow." 

"Came to test the water in the shark tank," she joked. "Can you recommend a restaurant or something?"

"Of course, of course, The Round Table is right this way," he said, walking off at a pace that said she should follow. 

She tried not to hunch up her shoulders as they approached a lit building that seemed to be the only place open. A woman in a bright yellow dress was waiting on the few patio tables, but she jumped toward them as they approached.

"Oh, you're that new person!" she cried in delight. "In that old workshop outside of town, right? Oh god, where are my manners? I'm Sonia! It's so nice to meet you!"

Maya went to shake the other girl's hand, but found herself swept into a spinning hug instead. 

"Uh, I'm Maya."

"Oh honey, I know," Sonia laughed and released her. "Presley hasn't shut up about your Pa since he found out you were coming. Go on, Django should be at the bar. He'll fix you right up. You look like you could use a drink."

Maya blinked at the other woman as she sauntered back over to the tables and chanced a look at Presley, who coughed to cover the shaking of his shoulders. 

"Ah, yes," he said and held the door for her, "Sonia is very, uh… friendly. She was born here, you know. We don't see very many new people."

"I like her," Maya decided.

"There's something to be said for her approach." 

Presley steered her toward a man in a red coat and checkered shirt behind the bar whose face and mannerisms all seemed open, but who sized her up the way she expected someone might do before a fight.

"Django," Presley greeted. 

"Good to see you! And you must be our new builder. Always nice to see young folks moving in. The Round Table is at your service for food and refreshment. Here," he said and turned away to mix something. Presley motioned for her to grab a seat and joined her at the end of the bar, letting her sit with her back to the room of people. 

"Try this," Django said and pushed a glass into her hand. "On me this time. You too, Pres, you drinking?"

"Ah, no thank you. Just a menu, please?" he said, and nodded toward her. 

"Usual for you, then?" 

"I've been craving it all day." 

Presley accepted the menu while Maya took a careful sip of the drink she'd been handed. It was a pretty bitter, but somehow managed to be refreshing at the same time. She took a larger sip. Probably highly alcoholic, too.

"You are old enough to drink, right?" Django asked, setting a pot of hot tea in front of Presley. Maya snorted.

"Yeah," she nodded. "What is this?"

"Bitter melon, lemonade, and bamboo papaya spirits,” he listed off on his fingers. “You like it?"

Maya hummed and took another sip. 

"Always good to be appreciated. Let me know when you're ready," he told her.

He tapped the menu Presely was still holding before wandering out from behind the bar.

"He owns the restaurant," Presley explained, sliding the menu to her.

"Really?"

"He also makes the drinks very strong," he cautioned. 

Maya could believe it. The alcohol was already hitting her, leaching into her blood through her empty stomach.

"I'm at my most charming when I'm drunk."

"If you are anything like your father, that will be bumbling and incoherent."

"Like I said," Maya laughed, and opened the menu. Her nerves were settling with the alcohol. Presley was turning out to be a really nice guy. It felt like everything was going to be alright. 

"But maybe just the one tonight."

***

Everything was not alright. 

Oh, she'd passed the builder's exam with no problem, though she didn't know if that was because Presley was going easy on her or if it really didn't take a lot of know how to be a builder. 

The workshop was registered and she’d met the portly Mayor Gale, who had welcomed her with the same enthusiasm as Sonia and Django the night before. He turned her back around to the Commerce Guild in the space of ten minutes. All of that had been fine. 

No, the problem was Higgins. 

Higgins, who had stomped in like there was a chip on his shoulder and the world owed him for it, stolen her first commission right out of Presley's hand and sauntered off without so much as a by your leave. 

"I'm sorry, Maya, that was the last one for the day," Presley said, and glanced at the commission board with a sigh. 

"It's okay." 

He seemed just as disappointed as she felt so she shrugged and didn't say anything else. Back home that level of animosity from someone she hadn't even _met_ wouldn't have been a surprise, but it stung a little after the warm reception she'd had from the rest of the town up to that point. She was about to bid Presley farewell and maybe explore a little with the rest of her day, when the door literally burst open.

"Yo Pres, got a commission for you," a uniformed man with shockingly red hair announced, striding toward them.

"Oh really?" 

There was a funny glint in Presley’s eye that Maya didn't like, which was how she ended up meeting the Civil Corp Captain, Arlo, and agreeing to build a _freaking bridge_ as her first commission. 

No, everything was not alright, and it was all Higgins' fault. 

***

"Now Maya," Presley said later, dropping into the seat next to where she was slumped over the bartop in despair, "as the bridge is a city commission, you can still take one from the board tomorrow."

"That's good."

She turned her head to look at him. 

"Oh my," he muttered, probably admiring the gash on her cheek. 

She'd left the Commerce Guild that afternoon, stomped around in the yard at her workshop for a while, and then went out to attack a few small trees to vent some of her frustration. One of them had fought back. 

"You should see the other guy," she told him miserably. "Pile of wood in my yard now."

"Ah. A drink, please, Django?"

"She's already had two," the man in question replied, startling her. She'd somehow lost track of him in the nearly empty restaurant. 

"It's been a rough day," Presley told him gravely, then focused his attention back on her, "I'm sorry to have dropped that on you, I know it's a big project for your first commission."

"Well, at least I can swim. Thanks for having faith in me, I guess."

"Not many people pass the builder's test that quickly, and I've never seen such fine work from someone untested," Presley admitted. 

Maya squinted at him. 

"Really?" she asked, voice flat. He chuckled and held up his hands.

"A lot of people have a romantic idea of what being a builder is like, so they try to jump in without any clue how much work goes into it," he explained. "Something as simple as stone tools and a furnace weeds out about 80% of candidates."

That answered that question, then.

"Man, I thought you were going easy on me."

"Not at all, my dear."

Django came around the bar and handed her something blue and shimmery and sour. She grinned at him. 

"You really make all this stuff?"

"Ahaha, yeah. Everyone has their passions," he said and sat backward on the other side of Presley with his elbows propped on the bar. 

"Now, tell us about this tree."

***

The first weekend she found the diagrams for several simple machines tucked into a pocket in the back of the handbook and went crazy.

"Maya," Presley sighed in disapproval when he swung by on Sunday to remind her about the fireside meeting.

"What? What's wrong?" she asked, bleary.

She'd been too excited about the expanded possibilities for her workshop to sleep and it was so immensely satisfying to load wood into the cutters and watch them chop down perfect boards. Much better than she'd been doing by hand. 

"Have you lost your mind? You'll kill yourself the first time you trip on something. And you will," he sputtered, gesturing angrily at the piles of wood and marble stacked between the machines and the junk littering about every surface. Maya winced.

"Just… clean it up. And don't build anything else unless you plan on expanding."

"Yeah, okay," she agreed glumly. There wasn't really room for a second skiver anyway, not with Emily's planter box taking up a chunk of space by her house. 

***

It wasn't a surprise when she walked straight into a wall. She was tired and fussing over the copper blades for Paulie, and it was only a firm hand on her elbow that kept her from hitting the sidewalk.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going," the man holding her upright said. 

"Wait, I ran into you?" 

She felt dazed and blinked up at brown eyes and a raised eyebrow. 

"No, no, I-"

"Man, I thought I hit a wall." 

His laugh did something to her heart, made it feel weak and sticky. He hadn't let go of her elbow so she grabbed his forearm to steady herself.

"You must be the new builder everyone is talking about. I'm Aadit. I'm pretty new around here myself."

"Yeah, I'm Maya, I -"

"Ah, smallish builder!" rang Paulie's voice from down the street.

"I gotta go. Thanks for the save?"

"I'll see you around," Aadit grinned. Maya offered him a small smile in return and watched him walk off. 

_'Wow_.'

"You have my blades?"

"Yeah," she said, and turned to the furniture maker, "if I'd known it was a rush I would have brought them last night."

"It wasn't, but I got a big order in yesterday and these will make it much easier. Thank you." 

"Glad to help," she smiled. 

Maya would be the first to admit that she'd misjudged the hell out of Paulie. He was really sweet. The day Mayor Gale sent her along to meet all the local shop owners, Paulie had seen her off with a hand full of building materials and some advice on a beginner's training regimen. She'd given up on it after the 10th push up, but the thought was nice. 

"Good morning, by the way," he said. "Have you eaten breakfast?" 

***

"Hey Alice, where's the Tree Farm?" 

"Huh? It's west of town. Why?" 

Maya handed over the letter when the other woman came by the chair she was sprawled in. She didn't know how long it had been sitting in her mailbox, because she honestly forgot she _had_ a mailbox half the time.

"Kind of weird. The Tree Farm has been down for a while. Why didn't they just post a commission, if that's all they need?"

Maya shrugged.

"Maybe they did. Most of the other workshops aren't very active, and I've been hearing a lot of people complain that Higgins turned down jobs that _'weren't worth his time'_. You know, I don't understand how his rep score is so high. Did I miss out on a bunch of _really big_ commissions, or was just no one policing how many he took in a day?"

"Why don't you ask Presley?" 

"Eh. I don't want to upset him. That would kind of be like questioning Guild integrity, or something."

She was going to catch up, though. Higgins was so smug that Maya worked at not punching him every time he opened his mouth. It was a wonder that he managed to fit so much ego into one body and she was already looking forward to the day when she could knock him down a notch. 

Alice shrugged and began putting out the arrangements and heart knots for the day, humming while she worked. 

"You gonna do it?"

"Yeah, I guess," she said, thinking it over. 

She'd have to wait till 8 to pick up a commission at the Guild, but she could go after that. If it was a far walk, she'd rather get moving before it got muggier. The humidity was going to be the death of her. She didn't know how Alice was getting around so easily, when the air felt thick like soup. With a sigh, she pushed herself up out of the chair. 

"I think I've got some spare boards already made, so... Oh! Before I forget, is this the kind of necklace you wanted?"

"Oh wow, you made that?"

Maya nodded and handed her the crystal necklace.

"I've been tinkering with some stuff. I want to buy that plot of land next to mine, but I wasn't sure if these were good enough to sell."

"It's beautiful. Thank you."

***

She followed the path that ran north along town with her head pushed forward from the boards across her shoulders, thinking about how she should build some kind of cart. Between the mining, logging, and lugging around of finished products it was almost a guarantee that she'd eventually put on some muscle, with or without Paulie's training advice, but her shoulders already ached when she reached the edge of the city wall. 

There were rock chunks scattered among the big trees, and she dropped the boards beside one and flopped down against the stone. The commission that morning had been a set of talismans for Dr. Xu and by the time she'd delivered them it was already pushing noon. 

That had been an exercise in frustration. She'd taken the commission because he wanted some runes she'd never seen, but they ended up being garbage. She had been careful drawing each one out on a scrap board so she could check them, but there was silence from each one she touched. Xu had been pleased, but Maya couldn't figure out why the little bits of carved marble were so popular when they didn't _do_ anything. 

She fiddled with her leather cuff, thinking of the sigil tattooed there. Her mother had always cautioned her that most of the magic in the world was hidden from people, but it was irritating to see them scratch at it like superstition. 

On the bright side, the good doctor had mentioned that eating creamy salmon stew was both healthy and might help her cope with the humidity. She'd have to ask Qiwa where to fish for salmon. In the meantime, it was one of Presley's favorites so she knew Django served it at The Round Table.

She should have stopped there for lunch to investigate the Doctor's claim. It felt like she was drowning, laid out under the old trees. 

"I hate this." 

"Hate what?" 

The sharp corner edge of one of the boards dragged across her shin when she jerked upright, all her senses on high alert because _she hadn't heard anyone coming_. She'd probably have whiplash the way she jerked around to find the source of the voice, heart doing a weird sputter when she spotted the man she'd knocked into a few days ago standing a few feet away.

"I didn't mean to scare you," he said, his mouth apologetic where his eyes were grinning.

Gods, she probably looked a mess. One hand jerked up in a reflexive move to check her hair, but it was damp with humidity and sweat and that was never a good look on anyone. She pushed a few sticky strands off her forehead and forced out a laugh. 

"Oh, hey. Aadit, right? I guess I was kind of daydreaming. Nice to see you again."

"Are you always this accident prone?" he asked. When she frowned at him, he gestured to her leg.

Puzzled, she looked. The pain didn't really hit her until she saw the blood running down her shin and ruining her sock. With the adrenaline of him sneaking up on her she hadn't noticed the board taking a chunk of skin. 

"Oh."

"Let me take a look" he said, kneeling next to her. She tried not to stare while he pulled a handkerchief from one of his side pockets and dabbed at the blood around the wound, but up close she could see that his eyes were flecked with gold and his hair was only a few shades darker than her own, though his looked soft and smooth instead of the unruly mess hers was becoming. 

"Are you headed for the Tree Farm?"

"How did you know?" 

"We have a first aid kit. I don't think you'll need a doctor, but we can at least get you patched up," he tied the fabric around her calf and gathered her boards while she collected her wits.

She took the arm he offered to steady herself and he kept his pace slow to allow for her half skip.

"You work there?"

"Yeah, for a few years now. Dawa has been really good to me."

"I thought you said you were new, too?"

Aadit laughed, "a few years is still big news in a small place like Portia. Everyone was still calling me 'the new guy at the Tree Farm,' until you came along."

"I get that," she complained. "I hear a lot of 'our new builder.' Where were you before?"

"Kind of everywhere. I traveled around and went where the work was. I like Portia, though. This might be the place I finally settle down. It’s just a little farther."

The sign for the Tree Farm came into view above a large gate that Aadit shouldered open. He let her go to prop the boards against the fence, and then led her over to the small set of stairs by the house.

"What's this, then?" a familiar face dressed in red asked, after Aadit had wandered inside for medical supplies. Maya blinked at him. She should have known. Wuwa, Qiwa, Sanwa. Of course Dawa was another Hulu brother. 

"How many of you are in the set?" Maya asked, and then immediately covered her mouth with her hands.

Dawa gave her an unimpressed look, but brought over a log and motioned for her to prop her leg up.

"Seven."

"Seven?" she gasped. "I'm sorry, it’s just Wuwa didn’t mention I’d be seeing his face everywhere."

"Technically it's my face. I'm the oldest. What did you bring home this time?”

Aadit stepped back onto the porch and chuckled. She found herself twisted to look at him as he came down the steps and settled just below her.

"I found our new builder. Can we keep her?"

"I don't know, Aadit. Builders are a lot of responsibility. Is she even house trained?"

He made a show of looking at her with his eyebrow raised, and she smiled at the playful expression on his face.

"I think so."

"I am, but I have a small bladder. I promise to only scratch at the door six or eight times in the middle of the night, though?" 

Dawa leveled a finger at the both of them. 

"Don't ruin my floors."

"The new boards are by the gate!" Aadit called after the other man as he stalked off. 

***

At the end of her second week Maya dragged Mayor Gale out of his office down to admire the new bridge. It wasn't anything fancy, but she was proud of how sturdy it was and he seemed suitably impressed when she raced across it a few times and then jumped up and down in the middle to show it off. 

Pa's handbook had actually been a big help. She'd adapted a few of the designs and then had to build it in three parts, making a lot of long trips dragging heavy materials in the cart she'd painstakingly assembled down through the fields and upsetting the colorful llamas. 

Eventually Sam from the Civil Corps had taken pity on her and would come by a few times in her patrol so that her horse, Teddy, could help with some of the burden. 

"Well done, my dear," Gale said, patting her shoulder. His grin was so wide she thought it might split his face and he had such a puffed up proud parent look about him that Maya worried her bridge would be compared to a crayon drawing stuck to his fridge.

"Thanks, Mayor. It's been a great learning experience for me." 

"Come see me in a few days. I'm going to send the Civil Corps to check out the cave on the island, but you may have heard that I'm hoping to turn it into something of a tourist attraction?"

Maya had heard a lot about it. One of the Hulu brothers apparently used to camp out on the island before the old bridge floated away and told stories about the supposedly haunted cave. He swore weird noises would come from the opening. 

Maya didn't put a lot of stock into it. She heard weird noises outside her house all the time, and they usually ended up being kids poking around where they shouldn't be (resulting in a couple of stern lectures and some threats to go to their parents, because Presley was right, her workshop was a deathtrap) and one time a weird white llama (wearing sunglasses??) that had hopped into her yard but wasn't smart enough to hop back out. After the cleanup from _that_ , she'd gone through and carved a few runes onto a hidden part of her fence to ward against further mishaps and deter people from entering the yard without her consent.

Sonia was excited that it might bring new people to town. Sam just thought it was going to be a hassle to police once the mayor got it up and running. 

"Yeah, that'll be great for the city," she said, because it seemed like something a politician would want to hear and she _had_ badgered him into walking down there. 

"Yes, well," he said, weirdly prideful again, "I think you deserve first shot at the commissions once I finalize the plans."

"Oh!" That seemed like a big thing. Presley had mentioned that the bridge would probably put her on Gale's radar in a good way, but she hadn't expected the results to be so immediate. 

"Of course, I'd be honored. I'll come find you after the Civil Corps have been through?"

"You might as well go ahead and talk to Arlo now. That cave was connected to a ruin years ago, but most of its closed off now. He might have a job for you in the meantime."

"I'll do that."

"Very good. Now, my sweet Ginger is waiting for me at home to have dinner, so I'll be on my way. Be sure to see Antoine for your fee."

***

"Maya?" 

"Hmm?"

"Maya!"

"Ow!" Maya exclaimed after Sonia punched her shoulder, and turned a betrayed look on her friend. "What was that for?"

"I've been talking to you for, like, five minutes!"

"No?"

"Yes!"

Maya blinked. After she'd tracked down Arlo early that morning he'd scratched his beard and told her he vaguely recalled the cave needing a removable battery to get the lights back on, shuffling through his paperwork for a while to produce a schematic. She'd thrown apart her workshop looking for the power stones they needed, but once those were found she was missing springs and the afternoon had really gotten away from her. 

"I'm sorry?"

"I need new friends."

"Even if I brought you flowers?" she asked. 

"From Alice?" 

"From Alice. Look at these roses." 

Maya pulled back the seat where the flowers had been hidden under the table and handed the paper wrapped end to her friend. Sonia sighed happily and held them pressed to her face. 

"How are her flowers so nice?"

"I think black magic," Maya mused, tapping a finger to her chin, "but I've never caught her at it."

"Alice is too sweet for black magic."

"She probably bleeds Jack over her flower bed."

"Oh my God, you are the worst."

"Ow! Stop hitting me!" she fell out of her seat and ducked around the other girl. "Django! Django, help me!"

Django glanced up from whatever he was working on behind the bar, but just shrugged as if to say ' _you're on your own.'_ Which, really. Weren't Knights supposed to save helpless damsels? Although Sonia was pretty scary when she was mad. 

Maya circled the big table, trying to keep it between her and her friend. Emily and Antoine were bent over in laughter at their booth near the front. The scene hadn’t changed much when the Civil Corps trooped in for dinner. 

"Ah," Arlo said. 

"What did you do?" Sam asked.

"Nothing!" 

"She's the worst," Sonia accused, though she fought a smile when Sam circled the table and put Maya in a headlock. 

"Abuse! Abuse of power!" she cried, squirming against the hold the older woman had her in. 

Sonia came over and triumphantly ruffled her already tangled hair until Maya went limp in defeat, and then Sam let her drop to the floor. 

" _I_ need new friends," she moaned. 

"You love us. Get up, you're blocking the path."

"I'm going to go commune with Oaks and the llamas."

"Well, when you get done with that we cleared the cave on Amber Island," Sam said and stepped over her. 

"Really? That was fast. I haven't built the battery yet."

She didn't even have the springs. Relic diving for the sake of relic diving was probably her least favorite way to spend time. It was frustrating to dig all the way to a spot on the scanner and find it was just part of some toy or statue or freaking nutcracker.

"You're free to go when you're ready," Arlo shrugged. "Keep your wits, though. The snaillob we encountered put up a fight and one of them was _huge_."

Django perked up at that and settled in with the Corps members to hear the story, and Maya tugged at his pant leg until he helped her off the floor.

***

She stood in the middle of the road and watched the debt collectors leave, sick with anxiety and angry at her father. She didn't have 50,000 gols. What was she supposed to do? 

"Hey," Aadit greeted and she whirled around to find him walking toward her. 

"You've got to stop sneaking up on me, man."

"Sorry. Those guys give you any trouble?"

"It's nothing," she sighed. "I just have to go check with the Mayor about some debt my Pa has."

"Oh, don't bother. Agent T and Agent H, right?"

"Yeah?"

"That's Tuss and Huss. I recognized them as I was coming down the hill. They gave me a hard time when I came to town as well, before Dawa set them straight."

"Tuss and Huss?"

"Bandit brothers," he shrugged. "I'd go talk with the Civil Corps instead of the Mayor."

She was so relieved she wrapped her arms around him and didn't let go until he got over the shock and dropped his arms to pat her on the back. 

"Thank you! I'm gonna go find Sam."

***

Sam laughed so hard she nearly fell off her horse and made Maya climb on to the back of Teddy's saddle so they could tell the Captain together. 

"Tuss and Huss? Wow, that's pretty clever of them," Arlo laughed and clapped her shoulder, "Okay, you said they gave you a week? We'll be there, too."

***

The next morning, under threat of rain, she set the grinders working on some bronze pipes for the research center and then heaved the removable battery and her bag into the cart to pull along behind her.

Thunder propelled along the ominous clouds as they choked out the sunlight and took the sky. Rain started to fall in hard sheets just as she reached the cave mouth and her last few steps were a struggle of mud and slick rock. The cave floor was thankfully even enough to pull the cart along.

There was plenty of evidence leftover from whatever monsters the Civil Corp had cleared out. Her headlamp cut through the darkness to find mucus and shells littering the walls and crunching in bits underfoot. At first she hummed to keep herself company, but the echo made it sound wrong and sinister and she stopped before she could work herself up about it anymore. 

It was a relief when she finally came to the room with the dead console. If Arlo was right, the battery would power the lights back on and she could be on her way. The install was easy enough, though she took extra care with the wiring, afraid she'd fry the console and make the whole trip worthless. 

Finally she was confident in her work and pressed the large button on the keyboard to turn it on. For a moment it worked like a dream. Light flooded the large room, a little bright after the darkness of the cave, and she could see the tunnel she'd come through illuminated as well. 

And then the gate slammed shut. 

"That wasn't supposed to happen," she shrieked and spun back to the console, working at the keyboard to find the mechanism to open the gate again. She thought she almost had it when she stiffened at a strange sound behind her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end. It reminded her of early mornings in the plaza, when everything was so still she could hear the _tap tap tap_ of Pinky’s claws on the pavement when the large cat ran to her for a snack.

She threw herself to the side just as a pipe swung down where her head would have been and smashed the keyboard. It was a rat. It was a huge, bipedal, mutant _rat_. 

It yanked the pipe from the console, flinging broken plastic across the floor, and leapt at her so quickly she tripped instead of dodging. She rolled away, trying to put space between them, and kicked hard at it's knee when it stomped over to her. It howled in pain and Maya pushed herself to her feet and fell back a step before she lunged for the pipe it was swinging. She avoided it’s big teeth and slammed her boot down on clawed toes, just as one bony elbow caught her in the nose and the explosion of pain blinded her. She stumbled away with the pipe in her hand, eyes too watery to see, and swung it as hard as she could. There was a sick crunch, and then a thump, and then silence. 

"Fuck," she whispered, straining to hear, struggling to see, and unable to think for the pain. 

Her nose was bleeding, the flow of blood running into her mouth. She stumbled to the cart. There was some ointment in the backpack, courtesy of Xu, and she held a rag gingerly under her nose while she dug around for it. She was shaking too much to manage the lid, so she huddled beside the cart and forced herself to breathe slowly through her mouth. 

"Someone help me," she whined. Her breath hitched just shy of sobs, fumbling with the ointment until the lid finally twisted. 

The Civil Corps had cleared the cave. _They had cleared the cave._ It was supposed to be safe for one little builder to come through. 

Shaky fingers made smoothing the green paste across her face painful, too unsteady to be gentle with herself. She stayed huddled on the floor until it began to tingle and numb her nose, head bent until it slowly stopped bleeding. 

Someone would come, right? 

_'But how will they get to me?'_ she wondered, staring at the gate blocking her way out. 

There was another tunnel branching off from the room that Maya didn't remember seeing before, or maybe it was part of the old ruin and had opened when her route had closed. She fumbled with a bottle and drank a few sips of water while she considered her options. Someone would eventually come, but she didn’t know when and probably not until she didn't show up at the Commerce Guild the next morning. She didn’t think she could get the console working without a new keyboard, so they wouldn't be able to reach her anyway. There had to be another way out, if the rat had come at her through a tunnel previously sealed.

_'There will probably be more,_ ' came the grim realization. 

She had a weapon, at least, the pipe the rat had attacked her with clenched in her hand. She stood, hardly breathing to hear better, and crept anxiously toward the opening.

***

There _were_ more rats. 

There were a lot more rats. 

She leaned against a rock and puked, spotting Remington’s missing shoes too late to direct herself elsewhere. Three had mobbed her, and one had gotten a lucky blow at her ribs before she smashed it’s teeth. She thought there was a chunk of brain on her sleeve from one of the others and she shuttered just thinking about it. 

Her determination to save her own self had worn off long before. 

She was going to haunt Arlo if she died in that cave.

The shoes weren’t the only missing item she’d run across. She’d seen Gust's lamp, Martha's cooking pot, Emily’s bucket; all left where she found them, too tired to carry more than her small pack after abandoning her cart for being too noisy back in the console room. The Civil Corps could come retrieve everything, if she ever got out to tell them. 

It couldn't be that much further. It felt like she'd been walking for miles already. Everything hurt. Her shirt was torn, her arms were covered in bites and scratches. She was done. She was tired, cold, hungry, and about five seconds from a panic attack.

The next room she peered into was so much worse. She didn’t know a mutated rat could _get_ that big and she didn’t know why it was wearing a crown or being guarded like some kind of prince. Or why it had Presley’s sofa.

The exit was on the other side. There was no way she could just sneak around them. She pulled back and took a moment to collect herself, clutching the pipe to her chest.

' _Just one more,'_ she told herself.

The guard rats were on her almost as soon as she stepped into the room, and she earned a gash over her eye for dealing with them. The rat in the crown stood then, hissed, and that’s when she realized it had a giant fork for a weapon.

It attacked like a hurricane, spinning around so all Maya could hope for were a few weak hits with her pipe before it was on the offensive again and she had to jump out of the way as it tried to stab her.

Her energy was failing and there was blood running into her eye. When it swung the metal fork down she couldn’t get out of the way in time and fumbled to block with the pipe. 

_'Help me,'_ she prayed. 

Her wrist tingled and then started to burn under her leather cuff, the sigil tattooed there searing as it came alive after so long unused. The fork scraped over blue static.

_'Barrier_ ,' she thought, ' _o_ _h, Mother, I'm an idiot.'_

The giant rat pressed against her shield, held at bay only by her already spent energy. It chittered angrily, and growled, and barked; stabbing the prongs of the fork against the barrier so hard it sparked.

Maya couldn't hold it, it had been too long since she'd even _practiced_ and barrier took a lot of willpower, so the next time the rat moved away she pushed out with everything she had. The barrier expanded and sparked blue as it slammed against the rat and sent it flying. It hit the cave wall, somersaulted, and landed impaled on the giant fork. Maya covered her ears when it screamed, and could only watch as it writhed in agony, claws scraping at metal, until the fight drained away and it finally stilled. 

Her knees gave out. For a long time she stayed where she'd fallen, too scared and too tired to move, horrified that she had basically watched the giant rat drown on its own blood. She slumped onto her side, puked, and passed out. 

***

"Maya!" someone yelled in her face. 

They tugged at her shoulder and pulled her upright and her brain came online like a light. She threw out an elbow and tried to roll forward, away, but toppled to the side instead, hissing at her ribs. Her hand found the pipe and she clutched it to her chest.

"Back off!" someone else yelled. Sneakers hitting the stone floor. Sam?

"Sam?" she croaked, hopeful, and forced one gritty eye open. The other one was glued shut. 

"Yeah kid, yeah," Sam said, dropping to her knees where Maya could see her.

"The rats," she coughed, pushing her pipe toward the blonde woman to use. Sam shuffled forward a little and moved the pipe slowly behind her.

"Please," Maya begged. They were in danger. Sam _needed_ her weapon. 

"Arlo and Remi are standing guard, okay? We're safe. You're safe." Maya hummed, because that sounded good, and closed her eye again. 

"No, no, no. Hey kid, I need you to stay awake, okay?"

"Do you think Paulie will give me a piggyback ride?" she asked, startled when Sam's cool hands started checking over her face. 

" _I_ will give you a piggyback ride if you want."

"It's just, I don't know if my legs work," Maya explained. Her brain felt sluggish. 

"That's…. Not great."

"I have a cart. But I left it, uh. I left it back with the battery," she offered. She was probably too heavy to carry. She felt too heavy. "It was noisy."

"Why would you-"

"Not now, Arlo," Sam hissed. 

"But-"

" _Not. Now_."

Remington came into view, face pinched in that fatherly way that he had. Remington could make someone feel bad by just being _disappointed_ at them. 

"I'm sorry I puked on your shoes."

He looked down, startled. "You didn't?"

"No, back there," she slurred, flopping a hand out to where she thought the tunnel was. "Your _other_ shoes. Missing shoes."

Sam laughed. "Good job, kid. I hated those shoes. Remi, can you carry her?"

The rest of the conversation flowed over her, lulled by soft tones into a haze. Sam was still holding her head, occasionally scratching at her hair and occasionally scolding her for seeming too asleep. 

Warm fingers looped around her wrist and she cracked her eye to look at Remington.

"I'm going to pick you up, okay?"

"Full of rocks," she protested. 

"Sam is going to walk in front and Arlo is going to watch our backs," he continued like she hadn't said anything, snaking a careful arm under her shoulders and the other under her knees. For a dizzy second it was like gravity completely lost hold of her, and she clutched at his tan shirt to keep from floating away. 

"I hate rats," she confided, whispering that most secret of things to his chest, too tired to move her head anymore to tell his face. 

"I'm not so sure about them, either," Remington's deep voice rumbled back at her. It felt nice, like the sound was vibrating around in her bones. She might have told him that, but they stepped out into the damp sunlight and she was gone. 

***

The next time she woke it was late evening and Phyllis was standing over her. For a long moment she grew tense waiting for… something. She blinked in confusion.

"You're alright," Phyllis murmured. Maya turned, squinting a little against the harsh clinic lights. 

"What happened?" she asked, then fell into a coughing fit. Phyllis helped her sit and offered her small sips of water. 

"You don't remember?"

"I…" she began and tapered off. There were flashes. Teeth and claws, fur and pain and… cutlery? It felt like one giant wound in her head and she carefully backed off. 

"Not yet," she eventually settled on answering. 

"That's okay," the other woman assured her. "That's normal."

Maya wanted to know, because it felt like there was a chunk of time missing from her life, but she also had a firm rule against not asking questions if she wasn't sure she wanted the answer, and oh boy, she was pretty sure she didn't want that answer. It was already looming dark and menacing inside her head, waiting for her to poke at it just a little too hard. 

She let Phyllis ease her back onto the mattress and closed her eyes. There was someone else in the clinic. Probably several other people. Doctor Xu definitely, clinking away at something, but at least one other person on the other side of the screen. There was the soft shifting rustle of fabric and quiet creak of a padded metal chair that she couldn't reconcile with the other people she knew to be there. 

"You up for some company?" Phyllis asked, preserving the illusion of privacy. "Sam has been waiting here the whole time."

"Sam?" she asked.

"Hey kid. You gave us a real scare."

"I don't…"

"Hey, hey," Sam protested, voice pitched low and soothing. "Don't push it. We've pieced together most of what happened. The rest can wait."

"Is everyone okay?"

"Not you."

"There were a lot of rats."

"Look at me," Sam insisted. Maya swallowed around the lump in her throat and complied. "You did good. You made it out. That's all that matters, okay?"

Maya let her head fall back onto the pillow and blinked back her tears by looking into the lights. 

"Okay," she agreed. 

She slept through the rest of that night and most of the next day, waking only when Xu or Phyllis came to check her over. She must have missed a dozen visitors that first morning, the cart by her bed full of cards and bouquets. Alice's shop had probably been cleared out.

On the Thursday she panicked about the bronze pipes for the research center, and wouldn't calm down until Sam promised to go personally deliver them. 

On Friday Arlo showed up. 

He sat in the chair Sam had moved beside her bed, took her hand and didn't say anything. A week ago it would have been weird, but a lot of people had been sitting in the same spot and holding her hand lately. Maya figured it was probably reassuring for them. Phyllis did it a lot. Sam did it all the time. She'd woken up the other night to find the Mayor's daughter, Ginger, clutching at her hand, Gust standing menacingly near the screen. That had been strange. She'd only spoken to Ginger a few times, Gust even less. 

It was silent for so long that she dozed for a while, lulled by the white noise of the clinic and the steady sound of Arlo’s breathing and the warmth of his hand in hers. Xu and Phyllis were out at the Day of the Bright Sun celebration, so Arlo must have volunteered to sit with her. 

"You're lucky," she whispered eventually, when the silence started buzzing and the suspense itched at her brain.

"Am I?"

"I was going to haunt you if I died."

That got a surprised and suspiciously wet laugh out of him, "I thought you _were_ dead."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't-" she tried to protest, but he squeezed her hand and she fell silent. 

"We cleared that cave. We told you it was safe. I _knew_ there were parts we hadn't been through, but I thought they were inaccessible," he said. "I thought you were _dead_. I thought I had failed, and then I _yelled_ at you for being there in the first place, before Sam cut me off. I don't know if you remember."

"I don't," she assured him. He let go of her hand to scrub at his face.

"It's my job to keep Portia safe."

"Hindsight," she reminded him, watching the guilty and defeated look on his face.

It bothered her, honestly, that he seemed determined to damn himself. He couldn't have known. Sure, she'd been pissed, and yeah she'd panicked, but of all the random people that could have been in that cave she was glad it had been her. She could deal with the fitful sleep and the nightmares and the impending PTSD, because she'd _lived._ Gods, Toby was so ready for adventure it was a miracle it _had_ been her and not the little blonde boy dragging Jack after him. 

"Sam wants us to give you the test."

"Huh?"

Arlo sighed and she could tell just by the set of his shoulders that he was against whatever he was about to tell her. 

"According to Portian law, if you can hold your own against any Civil Corps member for a full minute you'd legally be free to dive into whatever ruins you wanted."

Maya hissed at him and she couldn't tell if her face was hot with anger or embarrassment.

"I didn't go looking for trouble."

"That's not what I'm suggesting," he said. "I _know_. Her idea was more to offer you training in a way that wouldn't seem like we were playing favorites. If you declare intent to take the test, we're obligated to provide you will the tools you'd need to win."

"Why didn't Sam say something?"

"She and Phyllis are close, and Phyllis thinks it might be traumatizing to put you back into combat so soon," Arlo explained. "Sam brought it to me, because _she_ thinks it would help you feel better if you could defend yourself."

"And _you're_ bringing it to _me…_?"

"I think you deserve the option. We owe you the option."

Maya blinked at him, somehow surprised by the consideration.

"Can I think about it?" 

"Of course."

***

When Remington showed up for her debrief early that evening she asked him to escort her home first. Doctor Xu had put up a little bit of a fight when she demanded to be let go, but after he checked her over a final time there wasn't a lot he could say to keep her. Most of the superficial cuts were barely scabs, and the deeper ones were clean and stitched. There wasn't anything more they could do for her ribs. That would just take time. 

Her favorite item from the ‘get well’ pile was a little wild wreath woven of honeysuckle and strawberry flowers, and she placed it on top of her head before she let the green haired man lift her up onto Arrow. 

Remington, bless him, didn't parade her through town. He let Arrow meander the long way down, behind the Civil Corps HQ and beside the cemetery, even nudging the horse toward the break at the edge of the city wall next to the cafe to allow them to avoid Peach Plaza. It was close to six by the time they arrived at her workshop, the furnaces long since died down, grinders and cutters quiet. 

"Thank you," she told him with feeling as she let him into the house. He said nothing while she flicked on the lights and helped himself to her small kitchenette to make tea while she excused herself to change into old leggings and a soft camisole. When she returned draped in a blanket to settle across from him, there was a hot mug waiting for her at the table. 

"How do we do this?" she asked, curling her fingers around the warmth. 

"Well, just take your time. Start at the beginning and tell me as much of whatever you can remember.

"Okay," she whispered, taking a deep breath and trying to collect her memories, to put them in order. Facts, she could do, but she stared at her wrist and contemplated what to say. Someone had taken her cuff at some point, she'd have to get that back, and the tattoo there still looked red and puffy from burning. 

"I was surprised when Arlo told me to come take your statement," Remington’s voice cut through the growing silence.

"Really?"

"He usually takes them," he confirmed, "but I thought Sam would get this one."

Maya considered that for a moment. Arlo had given her the option and she'd asked for Remington without even stopping to think. 

"Sam is too close," she shrugged. "She protects people by being tough, sure, but also by being the face people can go to in a crisis? Does that make sense?"

Remington hummed and took a sip of his own tea. 

"I just think I'd be too emotional if I tried to talk to Sam, and then I'd feel bad because there isn't anything there she can protect me from right now. And Arlo would take it too personally."

"The Captain was a wreck for a few days."

"I kind of got that? Like, he apologized for yelling at me in the cave, even though I don't remember him yelling at all."

"We were all worried."

"Yeah," Maya said slowly, beginning. "I'm sorry. Me too. At… at first I was so mad at you guys…"

***

The room grew dim with early morning sunlight before Maya had slept at all. Her ribs barely ached, but it was enough that she couldn't settle. Remington took the warm feeling of safety with him, leaving Maya alone and regretting her choice to go home. It would have felt better to have people around. When she grew bored of watching dust motes she forced her cold limbs out of bed. 

She didn't dress, just put her boots on and hid her hair under a hat before she stumbled out into the yard. She eyed her woodpile and considered the split wood for a moment before, one by one, she dragged the pieces down and carted them to the nearest furnace to get a start on at least something functioning as normal. When the second was done she stopped, tired and sore, and dusted her hands on her leggings and turned her attention toward town.

"Maya?" Django called as she passed through the gate, about the same time she realized it was Saturday and the Guild wouldn't have any commissions.

"You're up early," he greeted as she wandered closer. She met his eyes briefly before letting them slide away. Sonia was setting up the outside display by the door and she offered a weak smile to the other girl. 

"Couldn't sleep.”

"I heard about your adventure. I wish I'd been there to see you defeat the Rat Prince. I bet that was some battle."

"Yeah," she shrugged. 

Django was quiet for a moment and Maya turned her face away, finding incredible interest in the other side of the street. Warm hands caught her shoulders, stilling absent shuffling, and she felt guilty that she flinched.

"You okay, young one?" 

"I'm fine," she nodded, eyes fixed on his chin. 

"Hey," he whispered and bent a little to look in her face, "Maya, look at me." 

She didn't. Couldn't. He rubbed patiently up and down one arm while she tried to breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth. Why had she left the house? Oh Gods, she wasn't ready for people or sympathy, not when she was still panicking and half ready to lash out about it. 

"Come on," he said. He settled one arm across her shoulders and turned her toward The Round Table. Sonia appeared at her other side, shielding her from view of the street.

"I wish you'd been there, too," she choked.

"Oh, no. Django get her inside," Sonia hissed, gentle hands pushing at both of them.“ _Get her inside."_

Before that week, she could have counted on two fingers the number of times anyone had carried her since her mother died. That record was far broken as Django lifted her ( _gasping around broken sobs, clutching fistfuls of his red coat)_ and hurried into the familiar comfort of the restaurant. Sonia closed and bolted the door behind them and pushed herself to the far end of one of the sofas. Maya ended up bundled between them.

"I'm sorry," she cried. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, _I'm sorry._ "

"Babe," the tanned woman scolded. Maya stilled long enough for Sonia to grab at her face, honeyed eyes searching her out through the tears. Whatever she found had her own face contorted in rage. 

"I think I would have fainted if I saw a mutant rat. I'm going to kill Arlo."

Maya choked on a laugh.

"He already apologized."

Sonia considered this as she gathered Maya in her arms and held her fiercely. 

"Good, then I can kill him quickly."

Django left and reappeared with a whole stack of napkins and Maya went through most of them before her breathing returned to something like normal, her eyes heavy with exhaustion. 

"We aren't open until lunch," Sonia announced, maybe in warning to her boss, and Maya with her cheek resting against the tabletop had a good view of the other woman's legs when she vaulted over the back of the couch. The front door clicked shut behind her. 

It was quiet for a long time after that. Maya was starting to hate silence. Too much space for her mind to wander. 

"I didn't know what I was doing." 

She turned her head so she could look at Django. There wasn't a name for the expression she found on his face. Part sadness and part understanding, some determination and some loss. 

"You didn't miss much."

"Come here," he said, and she let him arrange her how he wanted, tucked under his arm and pressed to his side. "I know what it's like to leave part of yourself behind after a fight."

Maya didn't know what to say to that. It felt like she left a lot in that cave. Her innocence, maybe. Her bravery for sure. Her ability to ever sleep through the night again. 

Instead of focusing on it, she considered the man comforting her. She didn't know a lot about the Knights, but of everyone he seemed the most likely to at least _know_ what a proper rune was and she _needed_ someone to talk to. She hesitated and then flipped her wrist so her palm was up.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked and held her arm away from her body. He lifted one hand and rubbed a thumb along the still swollen skin there. 

"Shield?" he asked. She sagged in relief, and every small inch of doubt she had in him evaporated. 

"Barrier," she corrected, "That's how I survived."

He traced the sigil for a moment and then slowly pushed at the sleeve of his own shirt.

"Lightning," she read as he revealed the sigil near his elbow. When she reached out to touch it in confirmation, the answer was less a shock and more the rolling power of a storm. 

"Some Knights get them, in place of using relics."

"Show me?" 

"Later," he promised. 

"Mom gave me the tattoo when I was ten, after she got sick," Maya explained, "so I could protect myself."

"Do you know where she learned?"

"No," she lamented. "She couldn’t use them, but she knew enough to teach me. I kind of think it passed down in her family, but she was a pretty big adventurer back in the day, so who knows."

"I met her once."

"Did you?" Maya asked in surprise. 

"In Lucien. She was passing through to the Peripheries. That was right before she retired," he said. "I was a teenager at the time."

"Yeah," Maya said distantly, "that was her last expedition."

"I guess you came along after that."

"Something like that," she hedged. He raised an eyebrow in question, but she waved him off. "Story for another time."

Django moved his arm over her head and stood, brushed his sleeve back into place and looked her over where she sat, still feeling pitiful and small. 

"Breakfast, then," he decided. 

***

Later that evening, after she fixed Django with a pleading look and Sonia bullied him into agreeing to teach her how to use a sword, she found herself wandering up to the Civil Corps building. Remington must have been out on patrol, but Sam was at the desk doing paperwork and Arlo seemed utterly engrossed with destroying their training dummy.

"I want to take the test."

"Hell yeah, kid," Sam grinned and stood. She put her hands on her hips. "Hell yeah."

***

Maya opened the door on Sunday and chatted with Tuss until Arlo showed up, Sam and Remington behind, and laughed at the panicked expression on the man's face. He grabbed his brother, and the Civil Corps chased them on foot down the road. 

***

The days went by in a blur, until on the last Saturday of spring she found herself in the early morning with a cart full of the parts for a Dee Dee stop up near the Tree Farm when it started raining. She sighed.

"You need an umbrella?"

Maya looked up at Aadit, not even surprised, from where she was sitting in the grass bolting bronze plates together and shrugged. 

"Kind of late for that."

He watched her for a moment and then turned his attention to the sky, before he tugged the umbrella hat from his head and gestured to her.

"Come on. I don't think it's safe to do that right now."

"Why wouldn't it be safe? There isn't any-"

A bolt of light flashed in the sky, followed by thunder so loud Maya flinched and covered her head. 

"- lightning. Of course."

Aadit helped her to her feet and put an arm around her shoulders to keep her close while they ran. He led the way to the house on the Tree Farm. 

"Where's Dawa?" she asked, shivering and trying not to drip on the floor. The outside of the house looked huge, so she was surprised to find it was just one big room separated by privacy screens. Aadit brought her a towel and then led her near one of the beds and bent over the dresser.

"The Hulus get together on Saturday. I don't know where they're holed up in this, though," he said and tilted his head to listen as the rain started coming down harder, before he handed her an undershirt and a set of sleep pants.

"I don't need-"

"You can't stay in those. You'll be uncomfortable, and the storm isn't stopping soon."

Maya rolled her eyes, but went to change in the little bathroom. The pants were way too long, but thankfully had elastic at the ankles and she ended up just bunching it above her knee. 

"Hey, I left my clothes in th-whoa."

Aadit chuckled and finished pulling the shirt over his head.

"Sorry, I thought you'd take longer."

Maya swallowed.

"Yeah. I uh, I left my clothes in the shower."

"You want something to drink?"

"Do you have coffee?" she asked hopefully. He wrinkled his nose in distaste. 

"You don't like coffee?!" she demanded.

"It's so bitter and gross. But Dawa drinks it. I'll make you a cup, sit down."

"Wow, it's like I don't even know you," she joked and fidgeted in her seat. Aadit eventually settled across from her and sipped something that looked sweet and milky while she struggled not to inhale from her own steaming mug.

"How are you holding up?"

Maya eyed him. 

"Fine? Why?"

"I heard about what happened."

"You and everyone," she groused and kicked him under the table.

"I sent you some flowers."

"Oh! Uh, which ones?"

He laughed and scrubbed the back of his neck. 

"Alice was pretty busy, so I made a wreath out of-"

"That one was my favorite! I made Alice show me how to press it. Where did you even _find_ strawberries?"

She was planning to make a frame and hang it above her bed. He smiled, pleased, before his face turned serious again.

"It's a shame. We've been messing with them and now they're hitting back. How are you sleeping?"

"Not well?" she admitted and tried to hide a yawn by taking a gulp of coffee. Just thinking about it made her exhausted. "Phyllis is calling them night terrors? She wants me to go see some specialist in Highwind."

"You should go."

"Nah. I'll land on my feet. You know, eventually."

"Maybe you should take a nap instead of drinking that."

"No, I'm fine, I-"

"Come on," he said and stood, nudged her out of her seat. He herded her, protesting, until she laid down on top of the blankets in his bed. 

"This is weird," she complained. 

"It's not. It'll be easier with someone around. Do you want me to read to you?"

Maya considered, watching him settle in a soft looking chair and put his feet up. The sound of the rain on the roof _was_ soothing and she _was_ tired.

"Yeah, okay. You'll wake me up when the storm ends?"

"I will."

***

Aadit did not wake her up, because he fell asleep, too, with his head at an awkward angle leaned back in the chair. 

She was rushing down the hill with her cart, trying to get home in the full dark of night, when she saw Arrow galloping toward her. Remington dismounted before the horse had even stopped and gathered her, bewildered, under his arm. 

"Captain, I've got her," he said, speaking into a small device clipped to his chest. 

"Oh wow, is that a comm relic?"

_"Thank God for that,"_ she heard Arlo's voice crackle through the speaker. _"Where are you?"_

"No, Remington, just let me look-"

He put a hand on her face and shoved her away from pawing at his chest. 

"Just outside of town. She's fine."

_"So I hear. Good work guys, stand down. Remington, tell her not to wander off anymore."_

"Will do," he said and turned to fix her with the most disappointed look she'd ever seen. 

"What?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

“Someone smashed your mailbox,” Remington explained. He tugged the cart from her hand and loaded her up onto Arrow, ignoring her protests. The horse followed him when he started walking.

“Oh,” she said. And then, “what!”

“The Captain noticed it when he swung by to check on you this morning. They left a pretty threatening note and you were missing.”

“I was at the Tree Farm.”

“All day?”

“Yeah? I fell asleep.”

He eyed her outfit and she flushed with embarrassment. Dawa had made some pretty lewd comments when he slammed back into the house and woke them, and she'd been too flustered to do anything but flee and leave Aadit to sort it out.

“You didn’t notice when you left?”

“I’m pretty bad at checking my mail,” she admitted. Most people, at least, had figured out they were better off stopping by the workshop or seeking her out in town if they needed something. 

“Well, we’ve already questioned Higgins. It isn’t him. We’ll get to the bottom of it, but we’d all feel better if you slept at HQ tonight.”

She groaned and slumped against Arrow’s neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does it bother anyone else in video games when you have a baby character and they get thrown into a really traumatic event and everyone just shrugs it off?


	3. Summer, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you have panbats, do you really need anything else?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still not owning the MTAP.
> 
> I'm trying to replay the game as I go so that I can get a better feel for the way I want to story to flow, but it's hard to space out the game appropriately when _you don't want Higgins to have any of the commissions._

Summer was turning out even muggier than spring had been, the days after a storm unbearable until the sun burned everything dry. Maya stumbled out of the Abandoned Ruin under the Church of Light temple carrying a small engine and tsked in disgust, shrugging out of the jacket she wore to fight off the chill inside.

It was early enough that Presley was still sipping coffee at the little cafe. She flopped into the seat across from him and dropped her head to the table. 

"Good morning, dear," he greeted. "Buy you a coffee?"

"Black. Please," she groaned. A minute later, when he returned and slid the paper cup to her, she straightened like she still had dignity and thanked him.

"A little early for ruin diving," he observed. The look he gave her made her feel like a teenager caught sneaking out after curfew. 

"I wanted to get it out of the way," she defended. "I thought I had another engine, but it's missing."

"I'm not surprised. I've seen the state of your workshop."

"Yeeeeah."

"How have you been?"

' _Not that great,_ ' she thought, and sputtered when she tried to take a gulp that was way too hot. 

Nights were a coin toss whether she'd wake up with her heart beating so fast it felt like it might just fall out, flailing in the dark against something she only realized in the safety of lamplight wasn't there, wasn't real. There were days that passed where she stood in her yard and couldn't account for where she'd been or what she'd done, the stillness in her head interrupted by occasional bright spots when she found herself laughing with Sonia or doing cartwheels with Jack and Toby. 

She didn't know how to get her feet back under herself, didn't know what it would take to climb back out of the pit she'd fallen into. 

"Eh," she hedged. "Okay, I guess."

"You've been keeping busy."

"Idle hands, and all that."

"Building another Dee Dee," he continued. 

"Yeah?"

"And the Mayor gave you that commission."

"Oh," her heart dropped, "that."

Presley hummed and watched her, hands folded on the table. 

"I already made them," she told him because she had, a sign and a stupid lit 'spooky tree' for outside the cave entrance, "I just haven't…"

"Take someone from the Civil Corps with you," Presley advised.

"I don't want to bother them." 

Not anymore, not after everything they’d done for her. Freaking Tuss and Huss. They'd come _back_ through town after smashing her mailbox and had gone after her resource box before the Civil Corps found them holed up in the Amber Island cave. 

"They can make time," he said. "Do you want me to talk to the Captain?"

"No," she winced. 

Arlo had already been desperately helpful. He dropped in several times on his patrol, sat in for her training sessions with Sam, hovered while Oaks taught her how to brush the colorful llamas for wool. 

It had been a comfort at first, to look up and know that he'd be there, but she was starting to wonder if the good it did her was worth the stress it was putting on him. He couldn't keep wallowing in guilt, the same way she couldn't keep letting her mind live in that cave. The whole town, really, was walking on eggshells, sweeping the path ahead so she wouldn't have to. 

"I'll get it done," she promised.

"I know you will,” he said and stood to leave. "Round Table for dinner?"

"Oh, is it Wednesday?" she brightened and then cringed at the unimpressed look he gave her.

"Indeed," he sighed. "Try to take a nap."

***

The post hadn't run yet when she'd stomped into the ruin that morning, but it was still surprising to find a letter waiting for her in her newly repaired mailbox when she wandered back home with the engine tucked under one arm. 

"Damn it, Dawa," she muttered, setting her burden under the worktable for later. "What the hell is a panbat?"

***

Panbats were the _best_. They were cute black and white fuzzballs, floating around on little wings that seemed like they shouldn't hold the weight. She loved them. She wanted an army of them to cuddle and guard her workshop. 

Who _cared_ they were killing the trees?

"We've tried everything," Aadit admitted. 

He'd smiled when they showed her the nest and when she'd broken down in a fit declaring her undying love for the beasts. 

"Fire-"

"Fire?!" she gasped, horrified. 

"Water. They seemed to like that. Cotton candy."

"All the bases, then."

"The Civil Corps are just as clueless as we are. We actually already asked Higgins, but he's afraid of them.”

"Why?" she breathed, watching the little guys spin in tight circles. Aadit dragged her away when she wandered too close. "The only thing scary here is how cute they are. I can't stand it."

"Can you help us?" Dawa pled. For such a stocky man, he sure did pitiful well. She rubbed her face, thinking.

"Sure. I mean, I'll try. Maybe the Research Center will have some ideas. Oh! Have you guys asked Oaks?"

"Oaks?"

"Yeah?" she frowned. "This tall? Runs around in a bear cape? Talks to animals?"

"Really?"

"Never met him," Dawa admitted. 

Maya puffed out her cheeks. They _did_ live on the other side of town in the woods and Papa Bear _could_ be intimidating until you realized the angry grimace was his way of smiling. 

"Okay. Well, I'll talk to the Research Center and then see if he has any ideas."

***

"Thank you for your help," Aadit said later when he walked her to the gate. 

"I haven't done anything yet," she reminded him and shielded her face against the midday sun to meet his eyes. Gods, but he was tall. 

"Still," he shrugged. 

Maya considered for a moment. A favor for a favor, right?

"Hey, can I actually borrow you for a little bit? I need help with... something else."

"Sure," he grinned, and Maya couldn't help the smile that split her own face.

***

"This is all for Amber Island?"

"Yeah," she said, dragging the cart with the tree parts in it, Aadit beside her with the sign slung over one shoulder, "Presley got on my case about it this morning. It's been done for a while, I just… haven't been back."

"Why didn't you ask the Civil Corps for help?"

"Well, you see my escort over there."

Maya waved at Arlo. He nodded to her, eyed Aadit for a moment, and continued on his patrol. 

"That's not intimidating at all," Aadit muttered. 

"He's been pretty intense since the thing," she admitted, "but I don't want everyone to keep babying me."

"I heard Tuss and Huss were hassling you again."

"Assholes," she muttered.

"Are you sleeping any better?"

Maya huffed and kicked at the dirt, shoulders aching with tension as the bridge came into view. At least it wasn't raining. 

"Not really," she admitted. "But remind me when we get back. I still have your pajamas. I washed them."

Aadit stopped when she paused halfway over the bridge, breathing slowly to combat her racing heartbeat, nervous sweat beading at her temples. 

"Hey," he said, and touched her arm. "I'm here."

"Okay."

' _One foot in front of the other,'_ she reminded herself. ' _Just one foot and then the other. There you go. Don't freak out on Aadit.'_

"Okay," she repeated. Weirdly, most of the tension fell away once they reached ground again, but she still sagged in relief to be passed that hurdle.

"Can we take a break for a sec?"

"Sure." 

She didn't exactly flop, but it wasn't dignified when she sank to the ground either. Aadit watched her for a moment and she squirmed under the attention until he slid his eyes away. 

"You're pretty brave to come back here at all."

"I couldn't manage it by myself," she pointed out. His chuckle somehow managed to be self-deprecating. 

"I wouldn't be much help in a fight."

She sighed and looked around the island for a moment before she climbed to her feet.

"There won't be one. Sam's been training me, anyway. Django, too," she shrugged, and spotted one of the Hulu brothers. 

"Hey!" she called, stepping away from Aadit and the cart. "Where do you want this?"

"How did you find me?" the shorter man demanded, all of a sudden up in her face. 

_'Liuwa_ ,' she thought, _'is paranoid_.'

Qiwa had told her about this brother, as he was the one who insisted the cave was haunted. This was the guy the Mayor was putting in charge? She put her hands on her hips and stood her ground, Aadit a solid presence at her shoulder. 

"I always try to be inconspicuous, you know?"

"Really?" she fought the sarcastic drawl in her voice, she did, but the bright blue shirt was the _least_ conspicuous part about him. It got worse from there. Orange and yellow shorts. Pink shoes. Man, did _Sanwa_ dress him? 

He huffed and backed off. 

"Over there," he gestured. "Sign goes up top."

"Sure thing, dude."

Liuwa grunted and disappeared into the trees. He would probably watch them to make sure they weren't up to anything shady. 

' _Man,_ ' she thought, fighting a bubble of laughter caught in her throat, ' _maybe I should have brought Qiwa instead._ '

"That was, uh, something," her companion coughed.

"I dunno," she joked and glanced at him. "I've seen some terrifying things today and that guy rates well below panbat."

"But I left the cotton candy at the Tree Farm."

Maya lost her composure, doubled over clinging to Aadit's arm to stay upright. She laughed so hard tears ran down her face. 

"Oh my God," she gasped, "what a missed opportunity!"

Aadit's eyes were shining when she straightened, his smile gentle and fond. She punched his arm with a weak fist. 

"Come on, you goober. Help me with this."

The tree was quick work to fit together with Aadit doing the heavy lifting, where she would have struggled on her own. That done, she scaled the wall up the side of the cave mouth and he handed the sign to her long ways, joining her to hold the end while she bolted it into place. 

"Wasn't Django a Knight?" he asked afterward, while they sat atop the rocks. Maya kicked the stone as she swung her legs, looking out over the bridge toward town. 

"That's what he says," she agreed, and offered him an apple slice. The town, she'd learned, didn't think much of Django's claim and the man in question seemed to like it that way. 

It weirded her out, that they couldn't just look at him and see to the other side of his jovial mask. Maya had pegged him as a fighter even before they first spoke.

She'd finally cajoled him into showing her the rune in action, after practice one day. It had been _awesome_. His arm lit up in a gauntlet of electricity and she'd laughed when he took a playful swing at her, waving a hand to block. The way the white lightning skittered over the blue of her barrier had been as fascinating to watch as it was beautiful.

Her own imitation, drawn with marker on her palm, had been weak in comparison, bare sparks, but he'd looked at her afterward with such an expression that she'd cut if off and fled for the day. 

She'd seen a look like that before, the first time and only time her father caught her practicing with mom before she died. The look of someone who hadn't realized _how_ different she was, how dangerous that could make her, but she hadn't expected it from Django and that stung.

' _There is magic in the world,'_ she'd reminded herself later. ' _But most don't understand it.'_

It was easy to forget sometimes, with him. The older man coached her to use her built-in defense while they trained until the magic sang in her veins. She could do so much more. There was so much more.

She felt bad that she'd been sort of half avoiding him, though. She should go talk to him, do damage control, before it was left to fester too long. 

"It's good of him to teach you."

"Yeah," she said, bringing her gaze back from the middle distance. "It was a fight with Toby over training time, though. Man, that kid."

***

It was edging toward evening when she left the research center and strolled out of town.

"Hey Oaks, how's things?"

"Maya!" the young man cried and leapt from the grass to headbutt her in greeting. She ruffled his hair in retaliation, and they ended up wrestling for a moment. He sat, grass sticking to his face. She probably wasn't much better. 

"Do you want to play with the llamas again?"

"Maybe later. Have you ever seen a panbat?"

"Sure, there's a little nest that live up the hill. Do you want to meet them?"

"Oh man," she clapped in excitement, "do I ever."

Oaks grabbed her hand and dragged her along while he sprinted. Even though he stuck to two legs, she was still winded when they came to a stop halfway up the big hill and Oaks stood over her in concern while she huffed to catch her breath. 

"I thought two legs was better?" he asked, face adorably wrinkled in apology. 

"It is," she wheezed. "It was. Thank you."

"Okay. The panbats are over there. Follow me," he grinned. "Just, they don't like loud noises, and you might scare them if you move too fast."

She stuck to his back, not sneaking exactly, just following the gentle steps he took. He made a complicated whirring sound to one of the little creatures and it floated to him, close enough that he could collect it from the air. 

The difference was striking. The panbats on the hill seemed so calm, floating and lazy instead of spinning in agitated circles like the ones on the Tree Farm. 

"The heat makes her sleepy," Oak explained, cradling the creature in his palms.

"Can I touch her?"

"Oh, I'm not sure. Hold out your hand?"

Maya held her palm close enough for the little panbat to sniff at her fingers. She thought she was going to die of happiness when it stuffed its head against her.

"Nice. Here, take her," Oaks said, easing the ball of fluff into her palms. Maya cooed and folded herself into the grass, scratching a gentle thumb into the black fur of her ear. 

"Let me see if I can get the others."

It was almost heaven when Maya ended up settled in the shade amongst a group of napping panbats.

"Oh, Oaks," she whispered, "I love them."

"They like you, too. It's probably your magic," he said. "It hums."

Maya gaped at him like a fish.

"They like music," he explained, like he thought that was her hangup. "Actually, Papa Bear likes it too."

"I guess that answers that question." 

Merlin and Petra had offered her two designs for dealing with the panbat infestation so she'd asked for both, planning to come consult with Oaks about which was better. 

"But how did you…?"

"Oh. I'm sorry!" he said and scrubbed at the back of his neck. "Papa Bear said it was a secret. I didn't tell anyone."

"That's okay," she said dazed, "I trust you."

He beamed at her. 

"I can hear it too, you know. Not very well, but it's nice. It makes me feel safe."

"Come here." 

She jostled some of the panbats when she pulled him into a hug. They rolled over and fluttered into the air, settling on her shoulders and biting at her hair in admonishment. 

"A group of them have taken up at the Tree Farm."

"I heard about that. Maybe they got lost?"

"Maybe. They seemed pretty upset. I'm gonna build a music player and see if I can get them to settle down or something. Will you help me?"

"Sure," he agreed easily, "just find me whenever. You wanna take a nap?"

***

There was still grass in her hair when she made it to The Round Table for dinner, late if the look Presley gave her was any indication. Papa Bear found them to collect Oaks for the night and Maya had hugged both of them before she raced away. 

"Good day?"

"Yeah," she sighed happily. Presley's eyebrows rose into his receding hairline. 

"Really?"

"I had a nap?" she offered, not sure what to do with the look he was giving her, "you told me to have a nap."

"I meant in a bed."

"Well," she huffed and offered a weak smile to Django when he wandered by. She should deal with that. She should deal with that soon, "you should have been more specific."

"Thank God I never had my own children."

"Whatever, _Dad,_ " she teased and dodged the napkin he threw at her. 

***

"I'm awesome," Sam declared. 

"Um, she beat you," Remington reminded the blonde still laid out on the stone floor of the plaza. She hadn't moved, even after Issac called the match and Maya backed off. 

"Yeah, but who trained her? Me. I'm awesome."

Arlo clapped Maya on her shoulder, and she grinned up at the proud expression on his face. The whole of the Civil Corps had gathered for the match.

"Well done," he said. "Sam's tough."

"Drinks!" the blonde demanded. She let Remington drag her to her feet. 

"You're on patrol," Arlo reminded her. 

"Drinks tomorrow!" Sam amended and came to lift her opponent off the ground in a crushing hug. 

"Air!"

"You baby. Oh my God, they grow up so fast," Sam wiped at a fake tear under her eye. "What's your plan now?"

"Uh, I do actually need to go to the Collapsed Wasteland?"

Arlo sighed, "for what?"

"Blue leather?" she said meekly and turned hopeful eyes up to him.

"Fine, I'll take you. Go get your kit and meet me at HQ. We'll have to find you some armor," he said and stormed away. Sam laughed when Maya threw a victorious fist in the air.

"Is anyone else worried that she has us wrapped around her finger?" she heard Remington ask as she sprinted away. 

***

"Oh my God, why is it so cold!" 

Maya screamed and fell over, soaked in slush so cold it set her teeth chattering. Arlo dispatched the last Slurpee and wiped his sword down before he sauntered to where she'd fallen. 

"Your sword work is pretty good," he complimented. "What's wrong?"

"You didn't warn me," she whined, fixing him with her most pitiful gaze. She would never be warm again.

"I told you not to get hit. Come on, do you have enough?"

"Yeah," she said glumly. Her bag was stuffed full of blue pelts and yellow bow ties. Arlo refused to wear one. 

"Are you coming, then?"

"I'm too cold to move."

"Get up."

"Too cold," she insisted.

He looked up to the sky as if to ask for help and pinched the bridge of his nose for added effect before he collected her from the grass.

***

"Remi thinks you’re planning world domination," Sam said the next night. 

Maya paused, a handful of fries half shoved into her mouth. 

"Idf ee aki-"

"Chew, please," she scolded. Maya did, but took great pleasure in doing so with her mouth open. "You're disgusting."

"I was _saying_ that I would be a kind and benevolent ruler."

"Lord help us."

"Yes, I am right here, and I hear your prayers. They will be answered!"

"Okay, cutting you off now young one," Django said. 

He appeared out of thin air behind the bar where they were seated and put his hand over her drink. She blinked at him for a moment and tried to pry his fingers from her cup. 

"But Django, Django my friend, that drink was making me so happy," she said. "Is this because you're mad at me?"

"Why would I - I'm not mad at you."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

"You pinky promise?" she needled and offered him her finger. He sighed and looked to Sam for help, but she was laughing with her head on the bar. 

"On my honor as a Knight," he told her and hooked his finger with hers.

"Good. Can I have my drink back?"

When he raised an eyebrow and didn't move his hand she licked it in retaliation. 

"Why is Mr. Remington concerned?" he asked Sam. Maya was grudgingly impressed that he didn't even flinch. 

"He says she's got everyone wrapped around her finger."

"Not everyone," Maya muttered, glaring at the man behind the bar. He rolled his eyes and relented, pushing her glass to her.

"Last one," he warned. Maya smiled brightly and accepted the drink. 

"Everyone," Sam reiterated. 

"No, no, no, Sam, think about how awesome you are," she said and reached for more fries. The plate was empty, so she picked up the leftover salt with her fingertips. 

"Look at me. I can't take over the world. I got bested by a Slurpee."

"Upon whom you've sworn eternal vengeance."

"They know what they did," she muttered.

Multiple Sams laughed at her. Maya closed one eye to focus, and then opened the other experimentally. Still two Sams there. 

"Arlo said you looked like a drowned cat."

"That traitor."

"You made him wear a bow tie."

"He looked more dashing!" Maya defended, "actually, Django, I have some more if you want one."

"Where is Sonia?" he sighed and disappeared. 

It took a few moments for Maya to register what he'd said and then she tensed and tried to look cool as she glanced around the restaurant. 

"Why are you scared of _her?"_ Sam demanded. 

"Have you met Sonia?" Maya hissed, "she's terrifying. Oh Gods, is she right behind me?"

Maya twirled in her seat, impressed with herself when she didn't fall out of it, and found the woman in question standing there with her arms crossed over her chest, tapping one sandalled foot against the floor. 

"I mean you're lovely," Maya backtracked. "You are the most beautiful creature to walk this planet. Is that a new feather? Oh Gods, don't hit me, I will make you a topaz necklace like you've been talking about."

Sonia laughed and dropped on to the stool beside her. 

"Django said I could have the rest of the night off _with pay_ if I came in here to babysit you."

Maya grinned slowly, "does that mean I'm _not_ cut off?"

"Maybe," Sonia considered. "Let's move to a booth, though. You are looking a little sideways, babe."

"That's because I'm being crushed by your beauty."

Sonia laughed and manhandled her out of the stool into the booth where Antoine and Emily usually sat for lunch. Sam followed with a thoughtful expression. 

"Albert could learn a thing or two from you," Sonia commented, her voice pitched to reach other ears. Maya rolled against her shoulder to look at the other patrons. 

"Where is he? Do you want me to go fight him?"

"No."

"Okay, do you want me to _talk_ to him?"

"Maybe after we get some more food in you."

"Fighting people _is_ metabolically demanding," Maya agreed. 

Sam shifted into the seat in front of her, her voice low when Sonia walked away to place an order. Maya was hoping for more fries. 

"I love her," she whispered. 

"I _told_ you. Go fight Albert for me. I'm not sure I could take three of him."

"I only see one."

"Well _I_ see at least two, and Gust and QQ are always around," Maya protested. 

"I'm not sure QQ could fight anyone."

"Well _I’m_ not sure _Gust_ could fight anyone. QQ is scrappy."

"You know you're yelling, right?"

"I'm not - am I yelling?"

"You are, babe," Sonia told her, arriving with a platter of sandwiches and a pitcher of water. 

"That doesn't look like vodka."

"You can have another drink after you eat. Sit!" she yelled, when Maya tried to stand. Her drink was still on the bar. 

Maya slumped into the couch and picked at her sandwich, but Sonia knew her too well to bring her anything she wouldn't like. And there _was_ a plate of fries.

"How're things with the Corps?"

"Please join us," Sam begged. Sam had also been drinking. Why wasn't Sonia babysitting _her?_

The woman in question laughed, and slapped Maya's hand when she snaked around for a handful of fries. She pulled her arm back with a pout.

"But then who would deal with the drunks here?"

"Django?" Sam asked, looking to the man once again behind the bar. 

"Django is great, but he's enough of a man to know when he's beaten," Sonia said, eyeing Maya. 

Sam snickered. 

"No more fries until you eat."

"Fries are eating," Maya answered, but stuffed the sandwich into her face. 

***

"Why," she cried the next morning when Oaks slammed at her door like a herd of llamas, almost to the beat of the headache pulsing in her skull. The wards had nudged her awake and she'd split them open angrily.

"You said you wanted to go early?"

"Wow. I was so young then," Maya complained, propped against the doorframe. 

"Do you… want me to come back?"

"No," she sighed, and slumped away from his disappointed face, leaving the door open by way of invitation. 

"Give me ten minutes to get dressed."

***

"I hate bugs." 

They were walking. Oaks pulled the cart because she was uncoordinated and shaky and the Dee Dees weren't large enough to transport both them and the boombox. It had turned out… way larger than she'd expected. 

"Yeah?"

"And the sun."

"You're cranky when you're hungover."

"Don't ever drink," she cautioned, "not even with Sam. She makes it seem fun and easy, but look at me. Let me be a cautionary tale. Are you even old enough _to_ drink?"

"I'm seventeen," he said, in a way that made Maya think he didn't know if that was old enough. 

"Hard no, then. Here, give that to Aadit," she said when the other man appeared by the gate. "Oaks, Aadit. Aadit, Oaks. Everyone play nice, or I will bite you."

Oaks' eyes widened in fear. 

"She will," he told the taller man quietly and passed the cart off, "she bit a llama this morning. I'm not even sure what they were fighting about."

"Where's Dawa?"

"Still in bed."

"Okay, well, either you get him up or I do," Maya said and pushed her sunglasses into the tangled bun on top of her head, "and keep in mind that Sonia wouldn't let me fight anyone last night, and while that llama had it coming, she's still just a llama."

"I'll go get him."

Maya nodded and rubbed too hard at the skin around her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Oaks asked, and pushed his head under her chin. She scratched at his ear and curled an arm around his shoulders. 

"I'll feel better after I throw up." 

"And… when are you planning to do that?" he asked, pushing away from her. 

"At an inopportune moment."

She didn't release him until he started to look really worried and by then Dawa was glaring at her from the steps. 

"How much do you love me?" she asked, glaring right back. 

"Not enough to be up at this hour."

"Tough. We are going to go make friendly with the panbats," she declared and stalked away. Oaks dutifully dragged the cart behind her. 

They weren't even that far away when Dawa started complaining to Aadit.

"She's crazy. Why did I let you talk me into this? She's _crazy."_

"What if it works?" Aadit reasoned. 

"I'll still be up at _seven A.M."_

"He seems even crankier than you are," Oaks commented. 

Maya grunted, feeling a little guilty as she climbed into the cart. She pushed the machine to the edge, but Aadit came over to ease it to the ground before she and Oaks needed to struggle with it again, and it _had_ been a struggle that morning. She owed the younger man at least a new carving knife for his help. With it on the ground, she set the volume to low and looked up.

"Should I start it now, or do you want to try talking to them?"

"Let me talk to them," Oaks decided, arms swaying as he walked away.

"What's he doing?" Dawa asked. 

"That's Oaks," she said, scrubbing at her face. She plopped into the dirt, "he's here to help."

"By getting himself killed?"

"He's fine," Maya dismissed. 

The panbats didn't attack him when he walked closer, but that was pretty much all she could say for the interaction. She frowned a few minutes later when the younger man came back looking dejected.

"They won't listen," he explained, looking so sad that she pulled him down for a hug. "Maybe if you came with me?"

"Do you think that's a good idea? I'm kind of cranky, too."

"I guess just start the music, then," he pouted. 

Maya toed the switch with her boot and then fiddled with the volume. The change was almost immediate.

"Maya, look," Oaks exclaimed. The panbats were settling into the trees. 

"Wow," she breathed.

"I can't believe it worked."

"Who knew they liked music."

Maya poked at Oaks' shoulder, "hey, do you want to try talking to them again?"

"Yeah! Come on," he said and pulled at her arm. She lurched but caught herself before she went sprawling, and Oaks slowed down as they reached the trees the panbats were nesting in. 

Maya reached up for the first one that fluttered to his whirring, and it rolled into her hands delighted. She heard someone gasp, and glanced over to find Aadit and Dawa had followed, though the latter was keeping more distance. 

"Can you find out where they came from?" Aadit kept his voice low and even.

"Um, I can ask."

Watching Oaks talk to animals was part fascinating and part hilarious. With the panbats it seemed like some sort of magic, because the way he spoke was so quiet and they clicked and whirred and chirped back at him. With the llamas it was almost comical, because they were loud and he was loud back, talking with his arms just as much as his mouth. 

The one in her hands shifted for her attention when she stopped petting it and she scratched at it's belly until it cooed.

"They're from the marsh. Something scared them away."

"What could do that?" Maya asked.

"A man that wasn't a man… or something? They say it's been hitting the trees and shaking the ground."

"Okay, well. That's something. Probably something to talk to Arlo about. Will they go back?"

"No. They're too scared."

Oaks shrugged and Maya held up her arms for the panbat she was carrying to flutter away. It joined the others huddled in the branches. 

"At least they aren't tearing up the trees anymore," Aadit smiled. 

Her brain could not deal with his optimism, not while she had a migraine building behind her eye and the sun was so bright. 

"Let's go talk to Dawa," she sighed. 

***

"Is this an inopportune moment?" Oaks asked, rubbing her back while she puked into a shrub outside the Tree Farm like the world's best boyfriend, despite being frighteningly young. 

"Yes," she moaned, cringing when she caught sight of Aadit jogging toward them. She straightened and pulled a hand across her mouth. Oaks went easily when she pushed at his shoulder, eyeing the bunnies in the field. She sighed and waved a hand at them. 

"Go on, then."

She envied his energy as he leapt toward them on all fours. A handkerchief appeared in her face, and she slid her eyes toward the owner. 

"I'm getting too old for this."

"Which part? The partying all night, or the hanging out with wild teenagers in the afternoon?"

"Both? And I don't think it was all night. I'm pretty sure Sonia put me to bed around one." 

Django's face had been pinched when he saw them out of the restaurant. She sort of vaguely remembered trying to steal his coat and him yelling when she crawled onto the bar to get on his shoulders.

"So you aren't up for another commission?"

She swayed against him and let her head hit his arm with a dull thud, trusting that he wouldn't move. 

"Lay it on me."

"We're going to need something to get more water to the trees, if the panbats are staying. Petra mentioned once that she knew about irrigation systems."

"That's gonna be a big project," she groaned. She could already imagine it. The Tree Farm was too big for a well to suffice, so the water for it would have to come from Duck Pond.

"You'd be saving the Tree Farm?"

"Wow. You guys just keep escalating, don't you? Bring the boards. Fix the panbats. Save the Tree Farm. If you wanted to see me so often you know you _could_ just ask me out," she teased. 

"What about the Captain?"

"I'm too hungover for this," she muttered and pulled away to look at him, "what about Arlo?"

"I assumed you two were together."

"Why would you…" her mouth was hanging open and she looked at him for a long moment, baffled, "no. No, we're not. Just no."

She liked Arlo, she did, but he was sort of made up of the stuff that big brothers were; hovering and protective and glaring at -

Oh. That would explain it. 

"How would you feel about a picnic?"

"I was _kidding._ I'll build your stupid whatever. You don't have to do that."

"What if I do want to see you?"

"Oh," she said, her heart stopping. She belatedly wished she was wearing something nicer than yesterday's clothes, "really?"

"Really," he confirmed. 

"Even though I yelled at Dawa?"

"He needed talking to," Aadit shrugged. 

He'd needed more than talking to. The damned Hulu had brought Oaks near to tears about the panbats before Maya had gotten between them, fists clenched, seething and ready to chew the stocky man's head off, because you didn't mess with baby bear, you just didn't. In the end, after Dawa apologized and Oaks talked her down, she'd agreed to leave the boombox and check in occasionally. 

"I have some positive thoughts about picnics."

"Are you free tomorrow for lunch?"

She smiled, shy. For that she absolutely could be.

"Yeah."

"Good," he said, and caught a loose strand of her hair, "I'll see you then."

When Oaks rolled grinning against her where she was sprawled in the grass later, she grinned back at him. 

***

"Let me borrow a dress.”

"Hello to you, too," Sonia sniffed, "and no. I've seen what you do to your clothes."

"Please? It's an emergency."

"My stuff won't even fit you. Go talk to Carol."

"I don't have _time._ I still have to brush my hair."

Sonia stilled, "you're going to _brush_ it? What, do you, like, have a date?"

Maya threw her hands over her friend's mouth.

"Hush," she hissed, "someone will _hear you."_

"This _is_ an emergency."

"Dress now, interrogation later. Something flowy? Can't you like-" she pantomimed tying it at the waist, and poked her head into the restaurant. "Hey Django, I need to borrow Sonia for five minutes."

"Half an hour, Django," Sonia called. 

"What? No, it won't take that long," she protested, and pointed at the apartments. "You live right there."

"Oh babe," Sonia said and linked their arms. "Yes it will."

***

“Wow,” Aadit said when she stepped off the Dee Dee, “you look great.”

She flushed in embarrassment and took the elbow he offered. Sonia had bullied her into a dark green gausey thing, much nicer than Maya intended, and then had fussed about her cuff until she agreed to exchange it for a set of bangles.

It was worth it, though, because Aadit somehow managed to look perfect even in a plain button down and his work pants. 

The northern boundary of the Tree Farm was like something out of a fairy tale, where the trees fell away and the land sloped down to meet the river. It felt like the edge of the world, so peaceful and removed that Maya just stood and took a stunned breath while Aadit spread the blanket on the grass. 

"It's beautiful."

"I like to come here and watch the sunrise," Aadit agreed. She was shaky and nervous when he held out a hand for her to join him, careful to keep Sonia's dress on the blanket when she settled against his arm. 

"Every day?"

"Not always here. But I do get up early."

"I'm sure Dawa loves that."

"It's tricky," he admitted with a sigh. "Tell me about your work."

Maya huffed and puffed out her cheeks. 

"It’s going pretty well, I guess. I’ve been doing a lot of small jobs lately."

"I think you work too hard."

"Well people keep _asking,_ " she said, and nudged him with her elbow. He smirked and set his hand on the back of her neck. 

"You could say no."

"To you?" she asked, and made a show of looking him over, "I don't think so."

He chuckled and pulled his hand away. Even in the summer heat, she found herself missing the warmth. 

"What were you doing before? Or were you always destined to be the lumberjack sort?"

"No,” he smiled out across the river when she put her head on his shoulder, "I've done a bit of everything. Been just about everywhere, too."

"Ever been to Barnarock?"

"No, can't say I have. You're from there though, right? What's that like?"

"It's different. It's the desert, right, so it's hot, but it's a dry heat. Sometimes the air here is killing me. I've never known so much rain," she sighed, and brushed a hand over the dark hair braided down her shoulder, “and the people are different. The towns are much bigger, so there isn't the sense of… community that Portia has. That might have been the biggest adjustment, but in a good way? Like, I'm growing into myself instead of withering."

"I like it here, too," he said, and broke into the picnic basket. "Even more now."

***

The wards around her yard pinched in her head and she nudged them aside.

“Hi Sam.”

“Damn it,” the woman in question cried and slammed her fist into the workbench. Maya reached out a hand to calm some screws threatening to roll off the tabletop, but otherwise didn’t look up from the lamp she was wiring. 

"How do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“There’s no way you knew I was there. You’ve been hunched over here the whole time. I even hopped the fence and walked through the yard. How?”

“Huh,” Maya said, and straightened up on the stool to glance at the other woman. Oops. “I’ve never thought about it.”

“Never- I’d have to be a freaking ninja to sneak up on you!”

“I’m sorry?”

Maya recognized the defiant look Sam was giving her; arms crossed, wide stance that made her hip jut out at an angry angle, glaring at her with narrowed eyes and a sour expression. She’d seen the other woman turn that look on the Captain once, and Arlo had almost immediately held up his hands in defeat. 

“One day,” the blonde declared, jamming one finger into Maya’s shoulder. She sighed.

“Did you need something?”

“Yup. Come on kid. Something weird is going on with the water."

Maya wrinkled her nose in distaste at the smell coming from the river. Sam had whistled for Teddy in the road in front of the workshop, and the two women rode down to the beach and then east passed the Amber Island bridge toward the waterfall. 

"What is this?"

"I don't know, but it's in the fountain too."

The cliffs above the waterfall were on fire with the early morning sunlight, and Maya squinted.

"Is it coming from up there?" 

"Gotta be. We've already checked everywhere else, but the lift has been broken for _ages_."

"Can we go take a look?"

"Okay, but we'll have to clear it with Arlo before we can officially commission you."

***

Aadit watched her finish up the assembly on the water engine, leaning against the door frame while she crawled under and around. She wished he wouldn't. She was gross and sweaty and covered in grease and oil, her hair twisted out of her way on top of her head. Aadit, by contrast, looked _perfect_ in his t-shirt and work pants, hair brushed out of his face and beard trimmed. It made her heart weep for the injustice. 

"Shit."

The screw she'd fumbled was just barely beyond the reach of her arm while she was laid out on her belly, shoes pressed against the shack wall for just _a little more length_.

Aadit crouched on the other side of the engine and collected it. She… hadn't even thought of that. 

"Thanks," she said, looking anywhere but his eyes because, wow, she was such an idiot. 

"You need a break. You've been at this since yesterday."

"I'm done anyway," she sighed, wiping her hands on the front of her pants. Why were engines so _messy?_ "I'll come back in a few days to install sprinklers and then you guys should be good to go."

"So you're free for the rest of the afternoon?"

There was a predatory gleam in his eyes as he stalked toward her, and she backed against the wall.

"Don't _you_ have work to do?"

"Not much, with the Tree Farm still down."

He caught her face in his hands and Maya didn't even know if her heart was beating when he leaned over and bit her lip. 

If he ended up covered in motor oil when he pressed against her, it was his own fault.

***

Arlo caught her arm outside the gate and spun her around toward town. 

"We've isolated the pollution to a source above Bassanio Falls," he explained. 

"Good?" she said, eyeing the distance to her workshop.

"There's a commission posted to fix the lift."

"Since when?"

"Just now. Come on."

"I've had a very long day," she protested, too tired to fight him off when he started dragging her through the plaza. 

Arlo frowned and didn't stop glaring until she shuffled away to pull the post from the board. She was pretty sure she already had the parts to repair it, anyway. 

***

She was getting bored. Avoiding Peach Plaza, and therefore Sonia and her inevitable interrogation, was _surprisingly_ difficult and with both the lift repaired and the irrigation system done she'd run out of projects.

So, when Sam came around one morning to ask for her help fixing the broken pipe that the pollution was leaking from, she jumped at the chance, rifling through the workshop boxes for supplies and climbing into the Teddy's saddle behind the other woman with enthusiasm. 

The enthusiasm faded inside the gross remains of WOW Industries. 

"This is disgusting."

"Just finish so we can get out of here."

"I'm done," she said, and eased herself off the big pipe. "Turn that valve so we can make sure it worked?"

The drainage pipe gurgled dangerously for a moment, but held. 

"Good job, kid."

"No, wait-"

"Let's get out of here and let the Mayor know," Sam said, wiping her hands together. Maya grabbed at her arm. 

"Do you hear that?"

"I don't hear anything," Sam said, just before sewage rushed out of the big pipe above and swept them into the hole in the floor. The barrier Maya spun around them cracked like an egg when they hit the bottom, and everything went dark. 

***

"Sam? Sam!"

"I'm here. Ow."

Maya forced herself up and took in the area where they'd fallen. The huge room was mercifully lit, but the dark stone gave nothing away and the hole they'd fallen through was far far above. 

"What happened?"

"I don't know," Sam admitted and pulled her to her feet, "no one has been in this ruin before. It looks like part of the sewage system? We should be able to find another way out. No way we'd be able to climb back up."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just bruised my hip a little. You?"

"Something hit my head," Maya whined, her fingers coming away sticky when she swiped at her hairline. 

"Lemme see, you baby," Sam said and grappled at her head for a moment. "Okay, it's not bad, but just sit here for a minute and let me check the tunnel."

She sank back to the floor and listened to the soft scuff of Sam's sneakers when the other woman disappeared from sight down the platform. She felt gross. Whatever had hit them from the pipe had been rank, and she was already thinking about a shower when Sam came sprinting back. 

"You're not gonna like this," the other woman winced. 

"Not gonna li-"

She fell silent, drowned out under a great booming voice echoing through the facility.

"IF THOU DARE, COMETH AT ME THREE FLOORS DOWN!"

"Seriously?" she asked. There was no way her life could be that ridiculous.

"Sounds like our villain. You know I have to deal with that, right?" 

Maya groaned and looked at the Civil Corps woman.

"No, Sam, shouldn't we find a way out and get help?"

"Don't worry, kid. You've got me this time," she grinned and cracked her knuckles. 

***

"Are you kidding me!" 

Maya swung her iron sword, thankful she'd had the foresight to strap it to her back that morning, even more grateful it hadn't been lost when they fell through the floor. She cut through two while Sam dealt with the others. 

"Why is it always rats?" she demanded, stomping to the other woman.

"I told you you weren't gonna like it."

Sam's hair was singed from the ones throwing flaming garbage like part of some circus act, and Maya patted at the embers.

"I'm going to fill this building with concrete, and then _you_ are paying for my therapy."

Sam chuckled and scraped her knuckles in Maya's hair. Maya let her, because her hair was gross and that was its own punishment. 

"Come on, kid. It can't be that much farther."

"I hate you."

***

"ART THOU THE ONE THAT ENDED MY SON?" the Rat King demanded, swinging his scepter to point directly at Maya.

"It talks?!" Sam gasped, moving to stand in front of her. 

"HOW RUDE! DEAL WITH HER," the giant creature cried, gesturing to Sam. A group of rats swarmed them. "LEAVE THE OTHER TO ME."

She tried to keep Sam at her back, but they were eventually separated in the fray when Sam slipped to a lower platform, overwhelmed by numbers. The Rat King descended the steps with thundering footfalls. Maya clutched at her sword. 

"YOU HAVE TAKEN SOMETHING PRECIOUS FROM ME," it declared and leapt into the air far higher than should have been possible. When it landed, on its belly, she brought her forearm up and the barrier shielded her from the shockwave, though her shoes slipped backward against the force. 

She twisted away from the propeller it swung at her and slashed at its feet, doing less damage than she intended before she had to fall away when it leapt again. How could something that size be so fast?

Her barrier wasn't strong enough for the second shockwave and she fell back stunned, her sword clattering to the floor behind her. Her shoes scraped against stone when she tried to push away.

It wrapped one huge hand around her throat and lifted her, feet kicking, off the floor. 

"I WILL AVENGE MY SON," it said and squeezed. She thought she heard Sam scream. Black spots danced in her vision and she struggled to find a grip while the huge monster chuckled. Her magic bubbled under her skin, but no one had ever taught her offensive runes, she didn't even _have_ one.

' _Gauntlet,'_ her mind seized on the word, but it wasn't right. ' _S_ _parks. A storm.'_

Something clicked and she dug her fingers into fur as her hands lit up with electricity. The power it took was so much more than she was willing to give, but without the sigil to channel it through she was helpless to do anything but hold on. The monster convulsed, the grip on her throat tightening, and she grappled with consciousness until it's grip loosened. She dropped to the floor and collapsed, spent, and it fell like a giant tree to the ground. 

Sam stumbled toward her, rats littering her wake. 

"Is it dead?"

"I don't know," Maya rasped, struggling to swallow. Her hands were still covered in jumping sparks of white lightning. Sam looked at her for a long moment and left to collect her sword. 

It took her two messy swings to decapitate the Rat King. 

"It is now."

***

It was a toss up, who was more angry. Sam, at being tended to or Phyllis, doing the tending. It seemed more like tough love, the nurse beating Sam back onto the bed whenever the other woman tried to stand, insisting she was _fine_.

Xu seemed relieved to have been saddled with her own wounds. He dabbed ointment on her neck and warned the bruising would be ugly. Her throat felt raw, her voice refusing to come out any louder than a low mumble. He cleaned up her face and wiped a cloth along her arms, barely making a dent in the dried sludge there. 

It was almost a relief when Arlo and Remington came to collect them. Her throat felt better with Xu's tending, but Maya let the other woman do most of the talking, almost glad for the excuse to rest her voice.

"How did you defeat it?" Arlo asked, turning away from his coworker when Sam came to the end. Maya shook her head and hooked a thumb back at the other woman.

"She cut its head off," she managed. Arlo's eyes widened and behind him Sam stared at her incredulous. She shook her head, just once when the Captain turned away, and Sam frowned but nodded. 

"A talking rat," Arlo sighed, "okay, I'll have to take this to the Mayor. Remington, you and I will go clear the site tomorrow. Good work, guys."

Remington eyed both of them, but said nothing when he helped them out into the night. 

***

Maya watched, feeling numb, while Sam pulled blanket after blanket from the closet. Remington, in a show of privacy, was making way too much noise in the kitchen at the other end of the Civil Corps building.

"I'm going to sleep here tonight," she explained, "do you want me to set up a cot for you, too?"

Maya considered the offer. She knew from experience that she wouldn't sleep well on her own. Still...

"No, I'm gonna try and get Aadit to stay with me," Maya admitted. 

"Ah, so that's your mysterious boyfriend."

"Sonia _told_ you?"

"No, Alice did. That girl likes to gossip like whoa."

Maya gaped at her, "Alice?"

"It's a small town," Sam shrugged, "that's what happens when you beg someone for help with a date outfit and then _avoid her for over a week_. _"_

Maya groaned and dropped her head into her hands. Sam came to sit beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders where she slumped.

"Hey, kid, you did good, you know? You didn't freak out, and you had my back the whole time."

"No, Sam-"

"You saved us from that fall, didn't you?"

"I-"

"And whatever you did to the Rat King."

"Yeeeeah." 

Sam nodded, eyes never leaving Maya's face.

"You know we have to talk, right?"

"I know," she sighed. Her heart was heavy with worry, but she wasn't ready to deal with it, "just… later?"

"Later," Sam agreed with a pat to her shoulder. 

*** 

She took the Dee Dee to the Tree Farm and asked the driver to wait while she stumbled through the dark to knock on the door. Aadit answered. He looked alert, despite his hair being mused and his shirt being… missing. 

"Hi."

She couldn't imagine what she looked like standing in the light from the doorway. Rough, still grimy, hair matted with dry blood and ichor. She picked at the scarf Phyllis lent her, Aadit's eyes tracking the movement. 

"Hey. Did something happen?"

"Did I wake you?"

"You woke me!" Dawa yelled. Aadit frowned and waved his arm at the other man. 

"Hold on," he murmured, and stepped away to put his shoes on before he slipped out next to her and closed the door. 

"What's wrong?"

Maya twisted her hands together.

"Can you come stay with me tonight?"

He frowned down at her and she fought an embarrassed flush even though he probably couldn't see, feeling like an idiot. 

"I'm sorry," she said and backed down a few steps, "you don't have to. This was a bad idea. I'm just gonna-"

"Stop, of course I'll come. Just let me grab a couple things. Did you walk here?"

She shook her head. She was too tired to walk.

"I asked the Dee Dee to wait."

"Okay, that's okay, give me just a minute."

He returned wearing a shirt with a bag slung over his shoulder and gathered her under his arm to guide her back to the waiting transport. 

***

"Do you want some tea or something?" she fidgeted around the kitchenette, feeling surreal about the whole day. 

"I can do that," he said, catching her hands. She was shaking. "You should take a shower."

"Oh," she said, "right."

She didn't move, even after he set his bag on the table and turned to her.

"Go on," he said. "Or do you want help?"

She narrowed her eyes at the gentle grin on his face. She knew he was kidding, but she stood with her mouth open for a moment too long while she considered how sore she was, how little she wanted to deal with whatever was in her hair, how much she just wanted someone else to take care of her for a second. 

"No, I'm going," she sighed.

Steam filled her little bathroom while she struggled out of her clothing and kicked it under the sink so she wouldn't trip. She'd deal with it later. The water was just the wrong side of too hot, but she turned her face into the spray and let it soak through her hair, the runoff a deep brown that didn't clear until she rinsed out the second round of shampoo. Everything hurt. She hated rats. She hated rats, and she hated their stupid rat monarchy, and if there was a Rat Queen after her head next she was going to set the ruins on fire and then maybe burn the ashes for good measure. 

When had her life become such a traumatic joke? What kind of place was Portia, that something like that could happen not once, but twice. They weren't _that_ close to the Peripheries.

Aadit startled her with a knock on the door.

"Darling?"

"Yeah," she choked. When had she started crying? She cut the water, already running cold, "I'm coming."

When she emerged, in loose shorts and a tank top, he was propped up against her headboard reading one of her books. He looked over, face going from serenity to confusion to rage so quickly she took a step back, startled by the shift.

"Who did this?" her asked through his teeth, crowding her, the whisper of a touch above her collarbone. She'd never seen him irritated, let alone _angry_ , and her heart was a jackhammer while she forced out the breath she was holding when she realized what he was asking. Her hand fluttered to her throat, scarf abandoned in the bathroom. 

"He's dead," she told him, voice shaking, brain no where coherent, and caught his forearm in both her hands, "Sam uh… cut his head off."

He let out a long slow breath. 

"What happened?"

"Can I tell you in the morning?"

He sighed, unhappy to leave it, but she found him herding her toward the little bed. She curled against his side, pressed close so neither would fall off.

"You weren't wearing this before," she joked, picking at his shirt. He murmured something low, less a word and more a rumble in his chest, and she twisted out of the way so he could pull it over his head. 

"Better?"

"Yeah. Can we keep the light on?"

***

She woke just once, jerked upright and kept a hand on his chest, feeling sick while she searched the shadows. He never spoke, just shifted, telegraphing every move when she fixed her eyes on him, watching as he stacked her pillows and leaned back. He pulled her against him, braced between his knees to lay on his chest, his hand pulling through still damp hair. She didn't stop trembling for a long time, and he was still awake when she drifted off again. 

***

Aadit kissed her head and promised to return the next night. He left for the Tree Farm in the morning after she sat him down at her little table and told him a sparse recount of her misadventure the day before, growing vague at the end and letting him draw his own conclusions. Sam could be the hero of that story. Maya wanted none of it. 

"It sounds like something out of a fairytale."

"I don't remember stories like that."

"No? Most of them are pretty grim."

She watched him leave up along the path, trying to gather the courage to not just hide in her house for a long time after he disappeared, when something huge flew across the sky and barely missed taking out several building in town. It boomed to a stop in the Collapsed Wasteland, and Maya stumbled against the fence when she finally picked herself up out of the grass. 

***

"You never take me anywhere nice!" she yelled at Sam, struggling to get the last steel plate welded down. Arlo and Remington were dealing with the monsters that had already flooded out of the hole in the ground, and the Civil Corps woman was watching Maya's back and taking care of the stragglers. 

"Done."

"I've seen you do better work."

"I'm sorry, you're right, I should have gone for beauty over speed. What is that thing?"

She and Sam made their way over to the others, standing next to where the thing had crashed. 

"It kind of looks like part of an old world space ship," Remington said. Maya looked at him in suspicion. 

"I'm not helping you drag this thing to the Resea-"

Part of the relic flew off and skidded to a stop barely twenty feet from where they were all standing, and something humanoid and yellow fell out of the hole. 

"Holy moly!" it exclaimed. 

"Is that a robot?" Remington asked. 

"How rude! My name is…. Ack…. Ack kala ack…."

"What the heck is wrong with this town!" Maya screamed, threw her welding rods into the grass and stomped off. 

"It's not you, Mr. Ackbot," Arlo assured the AI, "she's been under a lot of stress lately."

***

She didn't leave her workshop after than. It took two days of Aadit's calm presence before she felt anything like equilibrium returning to her life. 

He came back that night, and then the next, slept curled around her, kissed her forehead and smoothed her hair when she had a nightmare, and complained about her tiny bed so much that she kicked his shin.

She felt safe with him in her home, like it didn't matter what came next because she had Aadit and he would handle it. Which was funny, because Aadit abhorred violence and horrible things seemed to be finding her.

When she finally made it into town again, Sonia caught her up in a hug almost immediately and wouldn't let her go, crying so hard it set Maya off, too. They clung together under The Round Table awning until Django came to investigate the commotion and gathered them into the restaurant. 

"The Mayor called an emergency fireside about what happened," Sonia sniffed, "and Sam told us to leave you alone for a few days. I've been so _worried."_

"I'm fine," she promised, recovering first and wiping at her face. "Sam took care of me. And we fixed the water!"

"Good thing. I thought _Django_ was about to run off into the ruins to solve the water issue himself," Sonia laughed.

"Portia's water is much better when it's not polluted," the former Knight defended. Maya caught his eye and gave him a half a smile. 

"Glad you're okay, young one."

She spent the morning sitting at the bar just to be around people, and Django used her as a taste tester for his new recipes as an excuse to feed her. Sonia came by frequently to bump into her shoulder or lean against her arm.

When Django left for a break Sonia plopped onto the stool beside her.

"Alright, girl, spill."

"What?"

"That guy from the Tree Farm."

" _What?_ "

"Don't play. Emily says he's been leaving your house in the morning."

"I can't handle all this gossip."

Sonia laughed and scratched at her hand on the bar. 

"That was your date? I knew it had to be somebody special. You barely looked twice at Arlo, and he is hot like _whoa_ , _"_ Sonia said, fanning herself. "What's he _like?_ He doesn't talk much."

"He's been a perfect gentleman."

"Uh huh," the other woman raised an eyebrow in disbelief, "and he's staying at your house becaaaause?"

" _Perfect gentleman,"_ she reiterated. "You remember how much trouble sleeping I had after Amber Island? He's just been hanging out to help me deal with it."

Sonia opened her mouth to say something else, but fell silent when Django came back through the door. 

"Bring him around sometime."

***

"I have to talk to you," she told Django, catching the sleeve of his coat as she was getting ready to leave. He raised an eyebrow and watched her. She rolled her eyes. 

"Not _now_. _"_

She regretted being so much of a coward. Things hadn't exactly been strained between them, since the day she ran out of training, but it felt like a door had slammed shut that she'd rather have open. 

"You know where to find me."

***

She caught up with Sam outside Central Plaza, and the other woman seemed to understand what she was asking for without words, just shifted forward so Maya could climb into Teddy's saddle behind her and trotted them down toward the base of Bassanio Falls, where they wouldn't be interrupted and couldn't be heard from a distance anyway. They sat in the grass, just close enough for the spray to cover them in mist.

"Lay it on me, kid."

"I don't know where to start. What do you wanna know?"

"What was that _thing_ you did to the Rat King?"

"I have no idea. No, _listen,"_ she said when Sam fixed her with a look, "you know those little talismans people like? With the runes carved on them?"

"Uh huh?"

"Well, those are trash, but the _idea_ behind them is real."

"I'd be calling you mental if I hadn't seen it," Sam admitted. "So, it's like magic?"

"Eh, yeah?" Maya said and tugged at her cuff. Sam was not impressed when she flipped her wrist to show the other woman her tattoo. 

"This one is barrier. That's how we weren't smashed to goo when we fell down that hole."

"I remember," Sam nodded. 

"Well, typically you need a sigil like this to… I don't know. Invoke something? Channel it?" Maya struggled for an explanation that didn't make her sound crazy. She shook her wrist. 

"I only have this one. I have no idea what happened with the Rat King."

Sam chewed on her lip, brow furrowed. 

"Okay," she said eventually. "Is there anything else?"

"Uh," she scrubbed the back of her neck and wrinkled her nose. 

"Just tell me."

"I have… I hear a little better than a normal person? My other senses, too, but my hearing it best."

Sam gripped her shoulder.

"Is that why I can _never sneak up on you?"_ she demanded. 

"Maybe?" she hedged. Sam groaned and flopped into the damp grass. 

"Does anyone else know about _any_ of this?"

Maya opened her mouth to answer, but shook her head instead. Whatever Django wanted out of life, it wasn't attention. Sam didn't seem to notice her hesitation.

"Okay. Well, that's good. Clearly you know how to keep it a secret." 

Maya laughed and stared out into the water until Sam snapped her fingers under her nose. 

"Listen. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone. _Anyone_. I've never even heard of something like this, but you know the conflict with Duvos is escalating and it scares me who or _what_ might come looking for you if word got out."

That made the hair on her neck stand up. It had never even occurred to Maya. She'd never questioned growing up why her mother urged her to secrecy, because as a child it felt like a game. When her mother died, and her father shipped her off to Barnarock to live with his sister, he told her to never think of it again. So she put it from her mind. It had been left neglected inside of her until she came to Portia.

"You don't even want to tell Arlo and Remington?"

Sam sighed, "no. Not yet, anyway. I trust them, but…"

"But Arlo likes to impress Nora with his stories, and while he _is_ a _good man_ his ambitions don't end with Portia? And you aren't comfortable bringing Remington in if you're keeping it from the Captain?" she guessed. 

"Exactly," Sam sighed. "You know, Arlo thinks he and Nora are being discreet?"

"That's… so sad. Hey, by the way, thank you for asking people to give me space."

"I figured you'd want it," Sam said. "Though it hasn't gone unnoticed Aadit's been camping at your place."

Maya sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead. 

"Yeah, I _know._ He left this morning."

"Well, maybe give him a heads up. I tried to talk Arlo out of giving him a ' _stern talking to,'_ but who knows what happens in that man's head."

"Oh my God, why?"

Sam slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Congratulations, you've been adopted by the Civil Corps. The Mayor signed the paperwork this morning. Remington baked you a _pie_. Remington never bakes."

"Did you at least give Presley visitation rights?"

***

It weirded her out that the house was so lonely, and that her bed felt so cold. She didn't sleep well that night. 

***

Well before sunrise Maya waited for Django on the fence surrounding his home. If he was surprised to find her there he didn't show it, just left the door open when he retreated back inside. 

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" 

He sounded genuinely confused, which derailed the whole speech she had planned. Maya frowned, forced the tension out of her shoulders, and twisted her fingers together. 

"Training, when I ran out. And that I didn't come back. I got scared. I've had this secret my whole life, and you were giving me this _look_ and I just… got scared."

"That's nothing to be ashamed of. You don't have to apologize."

"It is," she insisted, "I do. I wasn't running from you, I was running from me. I don't think you get that. You can't, because you just let me go, and let me let it fester."

He opened his mouth, but she waved him off, tugging at her scarf when it started to feel restricting. 

"I need your help. I've never met anyone since mom who even knew what a real rune _was_ , let alone could _use_ it, and I feel like I'm gonna burn from the inside out if I don't figure out what's happening to me."

"What's happening?" he asked, drifted closer than the other side of the room. 

"I used your sigil."

"I remember," he said carefully. 

“No. I mean _yes_ , but then I used it again. Against the Rat King. It picked me up,” she put her hands around her throat, “and I couldn’t draw it or anything, I just thought of yours. I didn't even know that was _possible._ Sam didn’t kill him, I did.”

Django came close enough that he could reach out and tug at her scarf. She didn’t move while he unwound it, let him tilt her chin for a better look at the ugly color it had turned, slumped against him when he pulled her closer. Maya was done crying, maybe for her whole life, but there was something to be said for the stress relief of being held. 

“Sit down," he said eventually. Maya didn't like the look he fixed her with, "it took me years to find a sigil I could wield."

"Huh?"

"Most people can't even do that. You know this. I only mastered one, and I've only seen a handful of people do that much."

"Is that why-"

"Maya," he demanded and she fell silent. "The magic is all but lost. Whatever you can do, it isn't safe for others to know."

"That's what Sam said," she admitted. At his sharp look she explained, "she saw. With the Rat King. And before that, I had to barrier us when we fell. We would have died, otherwise." 

"War is coming," he sighed, "and I fear the day is reaches Portia."

"We're here," she said, for whatever comfort it could give him. "You'll help me?"

"With what I can."

***

Ack was depressed and she felt bad for the poor AI, so she spent the next morning inside the jail cell with a set of tools and a stack of paper trying to reverse engineer his remaining leg so that she could build him something to replace the one he'd lost. In the meantime, Arlo handed her a plunger so at least Ack could walk. 

"Alright. I think that's about all I need," she said and collected her things, "Arlo, can you let me out?"

"I don't know," the Captain said, scratching at his beard, "you can't get into any trouble in there. The morning has been surprisingly quiet."

"Arlo," she growled. He grinned and ruffled her hair through the bars on his way out the door. 

"I'll send someone this afternoon."

Maya eyed the robot after he'd left.

"I don't suppose you have laser eyes or something that could bust us out of here?"

"I'm afraid not, ma'am."

"Well, that's disappointing," she sighed, "but I guess I've been meaning to learn how to pick locks."

When Sam burst into the building later she doubled over in laughter at the sight of Maya and Ack sitting at the couch, drinking tea and playing cards.

"Well, Mr. Ack, it's been a pleasure, but I have a date. Remember what we talked about."

"Don't tell me," Sam said when the robot turned to look at her. "Plausible deniability."

***

"You're late," Aadit whispered into her hair when she made it down to Peach Plaza and wedged her way under his arm. She wasn't that late. Maybe she'd missed some of Gale's speech, but Lucy was still explaining the history of the Day Of Memories celebration.

"I had to bust out of jail."

"Why were you in jail?" he sighed.

" _Don't_ _look_ at me like that. Arlo thought it would be funny. He said he wanted _a quiet morning_."

He tightened the arm slung around her and wisely said nothing. 

***

Aadit didn't want to participate in the Ghost Badge hunt, so she slid her hand into his elbow and they took a leisurely stroll passed her workshop down to the beach where, at midnight, everyone would gather to release the wishing lanterns. Maya kicked off her shoes and dug her toes in the sand just outside the waterline. 

"I can't believe summer is almost over."

"It is kind of bittersweet," Maya agreed. Aadit tucked his shoes next to hers and rolled up his pant legs, beckoning her into the water as he passed. She was up to her knees when he stopped, the water lapping up her thighs and soaking her shorts. 

"I don't come to the beach very often."

"I guess it's nice if you like saltwater and don't want to swim."

"You can still swim," Aadit commented and pushed her over. "See?"

She got up sputtering, her hair full of water and heavy, pulling at the band she had tied around it in a low bun. 

"That's it."

She tried to tackle him but he was like a tree taken root, utterly unimpressed by her efforts even when she circled around to take him out at the knees. Her hair came loose when he picked her up and tossed her like a doll into deeper water. By the time the others gathered round to join them they were _both_ soaked, Maya splashing him in retaliation until she couldn't stand up anymore from laughing. On the shore, when he sat, she piled her hair on top of his shoulder and watched the water drain into the still dry parts of his shirt. 

"Pity," Arlo said later, leaning back on the sand near them, Nora a shy distance away, and looked at Aadit. "I tried to lock her up so you could have a peaceful holiday."

Maya, ever the paragon of maturity, stuck her tongue out at him. 

"Joke's on you. Ack and I have joined forces."

"Joke's on _you_ , kid. He wants a full report on how you broke out and how we can update our security," Sam said, giving her a significant look over Arlo's head. Maya groaned and flopped back. 

***

"Did you get a bigger bed?"

She was huddled still wet against him for warmth outside the gate to her workshop, the late summer night giving way to the chill of autumn. 

"No?"

"Shame," he said, and bent to capture her mouth, pressed her against the fence while she clutched at his shirt and pulled his hair to keep him close. He cupped her face for a moment after he pulled away, his hair disheveled and lips bruised.

"Sleep well."

She watched him walk away into the night, one hand held against her lips. 

The next day she went to harass both Paulie _and_ Albert. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I have most of the next chapter for this done as well and I'll post that sometime next week, probably. It's still a little short for my tastes, so you know, I'll reread it 51898 dozen times and then cry about my lack of character depth and then post it anyway. 
> 
> I think we are gonna have about 10 chapters, but I don't have the ending quite outlined enough to say that for sure yet.
> 
> Love you all!


	4. Autumn, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Lightning is free,” he said, after they settled at the bar, “because it’s all just potential. It's natural. It’s in the air waiting to be called. Like when you shock yourself on a door handle.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a lot of game dialogue in this chapter and it feels like a long time ago now that I wrote this, so I don't really remember what's going on anymore?
> 
> Also, I fixed some of the chapter one typos. :)

Autumn brought a stranger to town. 

Maya had seen the Mayor greet the scruffy looking man with enthusiasm earlier in the week, but Gale had that same level of enthusiasm for literally everything so when he introduced Mint at an early fireside meeting she only listened with half an ear. The bulk of her attention on the way Albert was chatting with Sonia. Her friend looked pleased and winked at Maya when she raised a questioning eyebrow. 

‘ _Well. Seems_ someone _came to their senses._ ’

Sonia had been playing hard to get for a while and it seemed to be paying off, if her expression could be believed. When the meeting broke and she overheard Higgins gleeful exclamation of “commissions, commissions, commissions!” she realized she must have missed something big and jogged after Presley. 

“What happened?”

“I should have known,” he sighed, "you were too focused to be paying attention.”

“Uh…"

“We’re building a bridge to the Eufaula Desert-”

“Oh, cool.”

“-to connect our city to Sandrock via tunnel. There will be a meeting about it tomorrow morning in Gale’s office. Don’t. Be. Late.”

“Gotcha. Thanks, Pops!”

She spun around down the hill and jogged through the gate toward her workshop, where a familiar figure was waiting leaned back on the fence.

“Hey,” Aadit greeted. She sprinted the last few yards and jumped on him. He smiled and caught her, spinning for a moment before he set her on the fence and stood between her knees.

“This is a surprise.”

“How would you feel about a night walk to Amber Island?”

“I could maybe be convinced.”

***

The view from the south side of Amber Island, the night sky over the desert, was breathtaking. So many stars above the sand and then the mountains in the distance.

"Oh wow," Maya breathed, holding Aadit's hand while she leaned forward. He chuckled and pulled her back, chin on the top of her head and arms crossed over her stomach. 

"The sunrise is also pretty from here."

"How do you do that?"

"What?"

"It's like… the world is so beautiful, but I never really _notice_ it until you show me."

"You work too much," he whispered, "you need to slow down and just enjoy life. Take some down time, sit around and think, enjoy the wind in the trees and the sun on your face."

"What do you think about?"

"Deep thoughts," he confided, "like, why is it called Duck Pond if there are no ducks?"

Maya laughed and he held her when she fell forward.

***

She was a little offended that no one seemed to consider her bridge building expertise, not with a real engineer leading the project and a whole team ready for construction.

"Okay guys, let me give you a rundown. There are two major objectives for this project from the Portia side," Mint said. He seemed fidgety and nervous while he spoke, which Maya totally got given the animosity Higgins was projecting. 

“Albert and A&G will be handling the construction of the bridge, and he’ll be in charge of the local plans after I leave for Sandrock in a few days.”

“Just give me _all_ the commissions!” Higgins demanded. Maya rolled her eyes and winced at the look the Mayor fixed her with.

“I keep telling you, mate,” Albert sighed. 

He and Higgins might’ve had a weird sort of friendship, but Maya had _boobs_ and was friends with _Sonia_ and either of those things really would have been enough to keep the commissions fair. Together? Well, she wasn’t so proud that she wouldn’t lean on it if she had to. The gap in score between her and the other builder was already close, and it was closing every week.

‘ _Watch it, dude,_ ’ she thought. ‘ _Your workshop won't be number one for much longer.'_

It was a little unreasonable how happy that made her.

“I don’t think I need to remind all of you how important this is for our town,” Gale said, clapping his hands for their attention. “I’m looking forward to this! Let’s get it done!”

***

She was standing at the fence watching the road when Arlo paused in his morning jog and trotted over to her. She foolishly let him in through the gate.

"Come on," he said, roughing up her hair, bouncing back and forth on his feet.

"What?" she asked, eyeing him. She'd been up for hours already, but it was still too early for her to deal with that level of energy.

"Come on, we're gonna spar."

"What!"

"Let's go."

"Who even _are_ you?"

“Come on,” he repeated.

“No! Why? I’m _busy_.”

“You aren’t busy. You’re waiting for Albert to send a team to collect that bridge tower.”

“I _could_ be busy,” she hedged. She’d never sparred with Arlo, though she knew Sam did quite often. The other woman had never beaten him, had only even brought their matches to a draw _once_ in the past. She didn’t _want_ to get her ass handed to her.

“You’d be doing me a favor. The entrance exam for the Flying Pigs is coming up.”

"Go spar with Remington or Sam or something."

He made a noise of frustration and shook his head.

"I know them too well. It isn't a challenge."

"I won't be a challenge either!"

"Sure you will. Sam said you're getting good. Help me out."

Maya let out a short screech of rage and threw up her hands.

"Fine! But _you_ are explaining to Aadit why I'm all busted up later," she said, poking a finger into his chest before she went inside to change.

It wasn't even close. 

Maya held on for a while the first round before he pinned her and demanded they go again. The second he sent her sprawling with a crazy kick to her stomach. She stayed down and thumped her hand against the grass in her yard after the third time he threw her.

"Leave me here to die," she moaned when he came to stand over her, chuckling.

"Sam was right, you are pretty good," he complimented, rolling his shoulder. "Let's do this again."

"No."

"Same time tomorrow?"

"Noooo," she whined.

"Hey, since you're getting so tough, do you mind helping me investigate something unusual around town?"

"What?"

"Some people have complained about loud crashing noises."

"I haven't heard anything?"

"Down by the Eastern Gate. Come on, you lump. On your feet."

"Do you promise not to throw me on the ground anymore?"

"For today," he agreed, his head tilted while he gave her an amused grin.

"Sure, why not, we both know I'm _not busy_."

"I like your attitude," he said, and pulled her to her feet. 

***

"Again," Django demanded.

"No, Django, I'm so tired," she protested. They'd left the weapons in the rack near the door of his home and were focused on runes for the day, but Maya was sore from sparring with Arlo and didn't have the stamina to block anymore of his attacks. 

They'd been working on strengthening her barrier. It felt like so long ago when she'd been young and confident, all of that gone after the first time he sent a fist through her shield. It had broken under the power from the sigil he invoked, and she'd landed on her ass startled and in pain straight through to her bones. It _hurt_ when it broke, and Maya hadn't realized until then just _how much_ Django had been holding back.

"You won't get better without practice."

" _You_ try it," she countered.

"Show me something without a rune, then," he offered.

Maya groaned and flopped down onto the floor. That was _worse_. It was harder and she couldn't control the energy that it ripped from her yet, without a sigil to channel through. She could manage lightning fairly reliably, but they were working on fire and it just didn't feel right.

"Joke's on you if I burn your house down," she groused. 

He chuckled and let her wallow in her misery for a few minutes before he came over to help her off the floor. 

"Alright, baby girl," he said. "Take a break and we'll try again."

She sighed. Why had she signed up for this?

“Tell me about your adventure with Mr. Arlo this morning,” he invited. Maya eyed him.

“Why am I not surprised that you already heard about that?” she asked. “There isn’t much to tell. We didn’t find a whole lot except for some Jump Dancers down by the waterfall.”

“That’s unusual, don't you think?"

Maya hummed in agreement and drummed her fingers on the table.

“Arlo says something scared them out of the ruins. He thinks there’s gotta be a big monster lurking around somewhere.”

“You don't seem as convinced."

“Well, no. He’s basing that on the way the ground was torn up around the uh… animal remains we found? But I don’t know. It feels like the Tree Farm all over again. A man that’s not a man who shakes the ground and scares the panbats out of the marsh?”

"Did anyone ever investigate?"

"No way for them to get over there. I don't think even Arlo could jump that river."

Django frowned and watched her for a long moment, eyebrows drawn together and lips pursed. 

“I don't like that you're outside of town by yourself. You should be careful.”

“I’m _always_ careful.”

***

Aadit opened his arms and she settled against his chest, seated in the grass looking out across Duck Pond to watch the sun set.

"What happened to your arm?"

"Nothing. Jump Dancer. Down by the waterfall."

"The… waterfall?" he asked, holding up the offending limb to see the bandage wrapped around her forearm.

"Yeah, Arlo says something scared them out of the ruins."

"I guess I can't go _there_ anymore," he mumbled under his breath. 

"You don't ever run into trouble when you're out in the morning, do you?"

"Not often, and I usually just hide or run away. You need to be more careful, though, if monsters are coming out of the ruins. You live outside of town."

"So do you," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but I've got Dawa if something happens. You just have a herd of llamas," he reasoned. "I'd feel better if you weren't all alone, or if someone at least came to check on you."

"I'm fine. Can we skip rocks? I haven't done that in ages," she asked, stood and dusted herself off before offering a hand to Aadit. He chuckled and let her try to lift him for a moment before he pushed himself to his feet.

"Sure, I've never done that."

"You… how!"

"How have you? You grew up in the desert."

Maya shrugged and turned her attention to the ground, searching for good rocks. 

"I didn't always live in Barnarock. Pa shipped me out there when I was ten so that he could go adventuring or something. Here, you wanna look for rocks like this," she said, handing one to him for inspection. "Kind of flatish and smooth."

"He taught you?"

Maya didn't mean to laugh, but the idea was so ridiculous that it startled her. Aadit glanced up from examining rocks with a concerned look on his face.

"No, my mom did. Pa, uh. He didn't want me? But he and mom did that head-over-heels thing, so he adopted me when they got married."

"I'm sorry, darling."

"Don't be. You never had any siblings or anything that taught you to throw things at the water?" she joked.

"I have a brother, but it was mostly just me. And there was always so much fighting and uncertainty, it wasn't really ever safe enough for something this trivial."

"I'll show you trivial," she challenged, and jumped for joy when she flung her wrist and the rock skipped several times over the surface.

"You're right, though," she told him after she'd run out of rocks and all of his had sunk. 

"How's that?"

"There _aren't_ any ducks."

***

She looked up and started so badly she dropped the welding rods she was holding. 

It was early morning, so early, but she'd woken from a nightmare and rolled out of bed instead of trying to settle again. Light was just barely starting to peek over the horizon when she turned and there was a masked figure standing in the predawn shadow of the road. The mask reminded her of something a fiend would wear in the ruins, but it, he, didn't hold himself like one of those creatures, too straight and still and certain.

He regarded her for a moment and she glanced to check the gate was shut, mentally poked the ward to make sure. 

She was shaking. Something about it was too much, there was too much power there for it to be real.

"Go away," she whispered.

He held one finger to where his mouth should have been, and then was gone.

She fell to her knees and clung to the grass. 

' _Was that real?'_

The way terror had crawled up her throat, combined with the way her heart was beating so fast she thought she might be sick made her question. Had she been sleepwalking? Had she been sleepwalking and had a night terror in the yard?

' _There's no way that was real._ '

After a few long minutes she climbed to her feet and went back inside, checking and then double checking the lock on the door. She turned on every light in the house and then crawled back into bed.

***

Maya was waiting later that morning, hoping to catch Arlo out on his morning run. She made a jerky motion when he came into view and he stopped so she could let him in the gate.

"What's wrong? You look troubled."

"I had a weird night. Can I talk to you for a second?" she asked, and tilted her head at the house. 

"Of course. Are you okay? You seem really upset."

She led him into the house and sat across from him at the table, pulling her hair and shaking a little while she told him. He looked pensive while she explained what she'd seen, how she'd felt, how she didn't know for sure if she'd been awake or not.

When she was done, he put his hand over hers on the table. 

"Maya, it sounds like a bad dream."

Part of her wanted to deny it, because it had _seemed so real_ , but most of her was reassured that he thought so, too.

"I can switch around the patrol routes so we come by your house more often, if that would make you more comfortable."

"Would that be much of a hassle?"

It _would_ make her feel better. 

"It's no trouble," he promised, and stood to leave. She followed him like a ghost out of the house and back to the gate. 

"Thank you for bringing this to me. Even if it's nothing, you still live outside of town and I worry about what might happen out here."

"Me too."

She didn't leave the workshop that day.

***

Maya loved the desert. She spent a lot of time after the bridge was completed basking in the sun and the dry heat near Siwa's home, but it was still a surprise when Aadit showed up in front of her house one afternoon and asked if she wanted to take a walk out there.

"Wow," he commented, pulling off his sweater and unbuttoning the top of the shirt he was wearing underneath.

"I know, isn't it great?"

It felt so much like home, even after all her time in Portia, that she felt a little pang in her heart, missing her aunt. 

"This is what it was like for you in Barnarock?"

"No," she denied, "it was hotter there."

"How do people live like this?"

He tugged at his shirt and Maya laughed at him.

"Really? The heat is what makes you cranky? Come on, let's go sit down by the river. Man, you seem so down to earth I didn't think anything could get under your skin."

The wandered back passed Siwa's house and settled in the grass, ignoring the madcrabs clicking there. Well, Maya ignored them. Aadit got a pinched look on his face when one of them walked too close and clacked a claw threateningly above his boot. She toed it away and pointed at it. 

"Hey! That isn't very nice. We aren't bothering you. Go away. Tell your friends to leave us alone," she said, making a shooing gesture. It eyed her for a moment, but eventually moved along. 

"I didn't know you had such a way with animals."

"I think that just happens when you hang out with Oaks for too long," she shrugged. "You _are_ really down to earth, though. What's your secret?"

He sighed and pulled her against him.

"I've seen a lot of fighting in my life. Once I got away from it all, I guess I just learned to take it easy."

"Don't sweat the small stuff?"

"Except when your girlfriend loves the desert. Then it gets tricky."

Maya laughed and climbed into his lap and kissed him until Siwa yelled for them to get a room.

***

“What kind of issues?”

"I'm not really sure," Mint sighed, "but we've had to stop excavation for the moment. There have been multiple mini-quakes in the area, and I'd really like to get a builder's perspective."

Maya scratched at her face. What did she know about excavation or geology? Still, Mint was _asking_ , and he sort of looked like a kicked puppy on a good day.

"Yeah, sure. You want to wait while I get dressed?"

"No, I need to get out there, but I'll see you soon."

***

Maya shared a Dee Dee out with the Mayor.

"Mint asked you to take a look?"

"Yeah," she shrugged, "I'm not really sure how much help I'm gonna be, though. This isn't exactly my area of expertise."

She hadn't even known what to pack. After she dressed she stood around in the workshop for a while thinking it over, but it wasn't like she could drag a bunch of support beams down there. Eventually she'd just shoved a few bottles of water in her pack and grabbed an apple to eat on the ride. She was regretting it, though, feeling unprepared. Maybe she should have at least packed some welding rods or something.

"I'm sure between you and Mint, you'll think of something."

"You guys are pretty close, huh?"

"I see him as a second son. He grew up in an orphanage, you know. I've been trying to look out for him for a while."

"That's really good of you. I'm sure he appreciates it."

A little bitter part of her envied the engineer for a moment, before she squashed it down. When was the last time she heard from her own father?

"Being a politician isn't just about building museums and bridges, you know. It's also about taking care of people."

Maya hummed in response, feeling a little more respect for the portly man. Gale did try to take care of his people, and he'd gone out of his way when she arrived to help her settle in and get to know everyone. 

Presley hadn't been wrong, that first day, when he told her Portia would be welcoming. It felt like home, even if the changing seasons meant she needed a whole new wardrobe. 

***

Remington was waiting at the tunnel entrance. 

"Nope."

"Remington," she tried to reason, "Mint _asked_ me to come out here."

"I'm sorry Maya, Mayor, but Captain's orders. Arlo doesn't want anyone else in that tunnel until they figure out what's going on."

Maya huffed and kicked sand at him. 

Gale was looking a little worse for wear in the heat when Maya turned to him for help. 

"I'm sure it-"

She threw an arm around his shoulders and pulled him down into the sand. The ground shook and the terrible sound of rock collapsing came from the tunnel. 

"Oh, no, no, no," Remington yelled and took off into the entrance. 

Maya stood and helped Gale back to his feet. 

"Wait here, Mayor," she told him, and ran after the green haired Civil Corps member. 

"Arlo! Sam!"

Maya had never had occasion to see Remington upset and honestly she could have lived without the memory of him scraping his hands up to pull rock from the collapse.

"Remi, stop," she said and grappled at him. He shook her off, but she persisted. "Stop! You could make it worse!"

He stilled at that and let her pull him away.

"Can anyone hear me!"

" _We're here!"_

Arlo's voice was distant and muffled, and she wondered if Remington even heard it, when she barely could.

"Arlo!" she screamed. When he didn't respond, she pushed at Remington. 

"I hear them, but I don't think they can hear me. You try."

"Arlo!?" he yelled.

" _Yeah! We're okay! Sam and Mint are here too!"_

"He says they're okay," Maya said.

"You had me worried!"

" _Keep worrying! We aren't that okay! Mint is hurt! We're in some kind of underground passage! I think it's part of the old shafts!"_

"He says they aren't _that_ okay. Something about old shafts?"

There came a terrible grinding screech, and Remington definitely heard that because he grabbed her arm.

" _We aren't alone down here! You need to hurry!_ "

Her heart froze. Maya barely heard her, Sam's voice not carrying as well as Arlo's had, but that didn't sound good _at all_.

"Sam!" she yelled. "SAM?!"

She stood shaking at the collapsed wall, trying to calculate how much force it would take to break through and wondering if forcing it would collapse the tunnel further. She wasn't sure if her barrier could hold it, if it fell on top of them.

"Come on," Remington said and caught her elbow. "We have to hurry."

"What's happening?" Gale demanded when they race out of the tunnel.

"They're okay," Maya assured him. 

"For now. They're trapped. We're going to have to go through the old shafts to reach them."

"Ingall's Mine? That's going to be dangerous. I'll go back to town and see if I can get more help. You both be careful."

***

"What is this place?" Maya asked. She didn't trust the old, somehow working, elevator they were riding, but it would have been a waste of time to walk down. 

"Before Portia was founded some people decided to come out here and dig for relics through the Old World tunnels. It didn't end very well for them."

"No shit."

"Did you even bring a weapon?" Remington sighed, finally looking her over when they reached the bottom.

"I didn't think I'd need one," she defended.

"Hammer or rifle?" he asked. 

"I don't know how to use a rifle."

"Hammer it is," he said, and handed her the one strapped to his back. 

"I don't know how to use this either," she protested. It was _heavy_. The best she'd be able to do would be swing it around and hope whatever she was attacking was too dumb to get out of the way.

"You'll figure it out."

***

Swinging the hammer around was surprisingly effective, because worms _were_ dumb.

"I'm going to need therapy after this," Remington complained. He was covered in worm goo from one Maya had smashed at the last second.

"Sam's got an open bill for mine. Add it to her tab," Maya advised, clicking some power stones into the old console. 

"That sounds like it worked."

"Yeah, back the way we just _came_ from," Maya sighed, peering back through the tunnel.

"Come on."

They made it back to the gate that had opened before Remington spoke again. 

"Listen, we need to be extra careful from here."

"Why?"

"It's rumored that there were people trapped down here, from before the Age of Darkness. They say whatever it is, it isn't human anymore."

"You tell me this _now_?" she demanded. He chuckled.

***

"What is that thing!" Maya shrieked.

"Chief Honcho! Watch out!"

Maya fell to the side and rolled back to her feet, avoiding the jabs it made at her with it's massive sword. It growled in rage when one of Remington's bullets found its mark in the creatures neck, but that didn't seem to slow it down.

How could something like that have survived in the mines for so long? Not human? No kidding.

She swung again, but the hammer just wasn't working. The creature was smart enough to step back from her when she spun. It swept her to the side, it's giant hand colliding with her arm and sending a jolt of pain through her, and she found her feet again next to Remington just as it swung it's sword down at them from overhead.

"I'm so done with this," she sighed and dropped the hammer to step forward.

"Maya!"

She held up her hand and the sword sprung back, the Chief Honcho startled to have been deflected. It bore down on them, but it felt like nothing against her barrier after all her afternoons training with Django. She had more than enough will and _anger_ to hold it in place.

She felt old and powerful and dangerous, glaring at it on the other side of her barrier, and so so tired that shit like that kept happening. 

"Burn," she told it, and snapped her fingers.

That was a mistake. 

It felt like the fire literally tore through her. It felt like she _was on fire_ even as the great creature was engulfed in flames. It ripped through her, and an eternity passed before she fell to her knees and it fell to the ground a smoking husk.

"What was _that_."

Remington sounded shocked, but that was better than angry so she just shrugged.

"I'm pretty sure that's called fire."

"Maya," he demanded, coming over to shake her shoulders. She blinked at him, eyes out of sync, tired. "Oh man, are you okay?"

"Yeah," she said, even though her nose was bleeding and the tunnels felt _so cold_ all of a sudden, "I just need to sit here for a minute."

He settled beside her, face scrunched from the smell coming of the Honcho.

"Yeah, I know, I didn't think that through."

"How did you do that?"

"Magic," she said. She was aiming for dramatic and mysterious, but the effect was somewhat lost because she couldn't stop shivering, and Remington looked at her _disappointed._ Maya groaned. 

"Look, man, short version? Magic is real, but like almost no one can do it anymore."

"But you can?"

"Kind of? It's _hard._ That right there," she said, pointing to the burned remains, "took so much out of me I can't even tell you. I. Am. Drained. That shit is not even technically supposed to be possible."

"We're gonna have to talk about this."

"No, you and Sam can talk about it. When we get out of here, I am going home and taking a _nap._ "

"I knew you two were up to something."

Maya huffed and shoved him over.

***

"I'm going to move," she told Mint conversationally, the man disoriented still and leaning on her shoulder while they walked, "I can't deal with this crap."

"We are moving," Mint told her. She patted his hand. 

"I know, buddy."

She hadn't been much help against the drilling AI. Her arm wasn't broken, but it was too sore for her to handle the hammer anymore so Remington had traded her for the rifle. 

"Just aim and squeeze the trigger."

Like it was that easy. 

She’d stood beside Mint making bad shots at the machine until one lucky bullet had taken out the camera it was using for an eye. The others had made quick work of it, after that.

"Look," Mint told her. "Mayor Gale!"

Maya was relieved to see him, but a little bit disappointed in his choice of rescue party. Xu made sense, and in a pinch she could _maybe_ squint and see him bringing Higgins, but Gust?

When the others gathered to talk, she grabbed Sam’s hand and pulled her away from the group.

“You’re on damage control,” she told her, pointing at Remington.

“What did you do.”

“Don’t ask. It was so awful and I can still smell it.”

***

"Darling," Aadit greeted. He was waiting for her outside her workshop when Doctor Xu finally told her she was as bad a patient as Sam and banished her from the clinic. He jogged the last steps toward her and caught her up in a hug.

"Mind the arm," she warned, shifting uncomfortably in his hold until he adjusted. 

"Only you could find a rogue AI in the desert."

"I'm blaming Remington for this one."

She opened the gate and let him into the workshop. He followed her through the door of the house and settled on the couch. Maya hesitated for a moment before she climbed into his lap.

“There were a lot of dangerous Relics where I used to live.”

“Really?” she asked, peering up at him. He didn’t like to talk about his past much, so it was interesting to hear him mention it. He sighed, gaze far away.

“A lot of people got hurt. Countries fight over things like that.”

“Yeah, I bet,” she said.

She was glad the drilling AI was decommissioned. Even something like that, with a purpose _not_ war, had caused some serious damage. Mint was hopeful the repair to the tunnel wouldn’t set them back too much, but Maya had some reservations. Who would even want to go out there, after that?

“Even now, I’m worried about my past catching up to me.”

It worried _her_ when he said things like that. What kind of horrible things must he have seen, for him to still be so haunted? She gripped his hands and he brought his gaze back to kiss the top of her head.

"You want me to stay the night?"

"I got a bigger bed?" she offered.

"Twist my arm," he sighed.

It was still early evening, but she turned hopeful eyes up at him because she was so _tired_.

“Can we start with a nap?”

***

Aadit was gone when she woke up with the early dawn light streaming through the window. For a moment she just blinked at the ceiling, feeling weirded out and disoriented. She was pretty sure she'd fallen asleep on the couch so Aadit must have moved them to the bed, but she didn't remember that and she hadn't heard him leaving. Gods, she must have been more wiped out than she realized.

When she stumbled out of bed to the kitchen, everything was set up and ready for her to make a cup of coffee and her heart felt a little too warm when she put the water on.

***

“Hey!” she called, jogging up to Gust before he could hide away in the A&G office. He stopped and sighed, and Maya swore even his hair was dramatic when he turned.

“What is it?”

“I just wanted to say thank you for coming to the rescue. Or, I guess, coming with the rescue party. The Civil Corps pretty much had that handled.”

“Is that all?”

“I didn’t really peg you for a fighter?

Boy, had she been wrong, though. Gust had gone after a few Desert Hoppers harassing his father, and the only reason Maya hadn't intervened was because the Civil Corps had just left him to it.

“Yes,” he sighed, “I’m aware.”

Oh. Right. He’d been at The Round Table that night after her test, when she and Sam were getting drunk and she’d been trying to fight Albert.

“I’d apologize, but then you might think I’m sorry.”

“Look, you can’t always protect people if you can’t fight, and there are some people I’m interested in keeping safe. Happy?”

He slammed the door shut behind him. Maya tried the handle, but he’d locked it so she banged on the door.

“I still think QQ is better than you!” she yelled. It was still early enough that there weren’t really people around, but in the interest of not causing a scene she backed off and wiped her hands together.

“Right. Good talk.”

She ambled over to Django, just getting himself set up for his morning practice.

“My, my, young one,” he said when she was close. She narrowed her eyes at him.

“Don’t look at me. I didn’t do _anything._ ”

“I heard you had a run in with a Chief Honcho.”

Maya sighed and slumped into a patio chair to watch.

“Of course that’s what you heard. Not about the heroic efforts of the Civil Corps against the, what are they calling that stupid thing? Rock-On?”

“That’s a worthy tale as well, but I’ve heard all about that story. Mr. Remington was not, however, forthcoming with details of your adventure before that.”

“Fire is surprisingly effective and surprisingly awful?”

She still felt kind of hollowed out and raw, and caught herself shivering even with a jacket on. The lightning hadn’t felt like that to use, hadn’t taken so much of her with it, and while she was grateful she couldn’t figure out the difference.

“Really, now?”

"It was so bad, Django. I still don't feel right."

"How so?"

"I don't know," she complained, throwing an arm over her face. "It's like someone scraped out my insides with a sharp piece of glass and then filled me up with salt."

He put a hand on the top of her head and she lifted her arm to peer at him. He was frowning. 

"It felt different," she tried again. "It felt _older._ "

"Alright, baby girl, I'll see what I can find. You should go talk to Sonia. She's been having nightmares about goat cheese again."

***

"Some Desert Hoppers tried to come over the bridge the other day."

"Oh. Yikes. Did you tell the Civil Corps?"

"No. I made a mean look at them and they went back," he turned his face to her and demonstrated said mean look. Maya didn't have the heart to tell him it was adorable instead of angry. "I don't think they liked it here anyway. Too cold for snakes."

"High five me, my dude."

Maya raised her palm and Oaks slapped his hand against hers. They were settled in the grass outside the Eastern Gate and she had brought food from The Round Table for them to share, because she could not stomach the thought of another lunch made of fish and apples. Oaks was helping her pass the time while she waited for a bunch of aluminum plates to cut down.

Remington had mentioned that the Civil Corps was patrolling the desert now, but Maya figured that was probably stretching them pretty thin with just three people.

"I'll talk to Sam about it. Maybe I can ward the bridge so we don't have to worry about them getting uppity."

"That would be good. I don't even know why then came all the way here."

"Maybe they followed us yesterday?"

Oaks frowned but didn't comment further, so she rolled her neck and shoved part of a sandwich into her mouth.

"Papa Bear thinks I should open a shop in South Block when it gets up and running."

"What would you sell?"

"My carvings, I guess. But I don't think anyone would but those."

She looked at him, incredulous, because the young man was incredibly talented with his carvings. 

"Uh, I would?"

"Really?"

"Yes, starting right now. I'd like to commission you for 9 panbat carvings. I need one for each day of the week."

"Then… why 9?"

"Two for bad days."

"That's still 8," he laughed.

"Three for _really_ bad days."

***

"Should I be jealous?" Aadit asked. His voice was pitched so low that she wouldn't have heard it if she didn't hear _everything_. She honestly wasn't sure if he meant for her to hear.

They were at The Round Table, grabbing a late dinner. Maya didn't usually eat so many meals out in a day, but he'd been in town to check the newspaper when enough plates had finished and she'd made the commission delivery to Mars.

"If you are asking about my relationship with these fries the answer is yes, but can you blame me? If you are asking about anything else, then I don't know what you're on about."

She was watching him, which is why she noticed him watching Django when the other man stepped out of the restaurant.

"Wow, that's a new one."

"Is it?"

She sighed, "look. I don't know what's got you riled up, and we can talk about it later if you want, but the answer is no."

"You spend a lot of time together," Aadit explained. 

"He's training me. Remember? I told you that."

"And he looks at you sometimes like-"

"Like what? Like I'm an idiot and he wishes I'd stop breaking his stuff and sitting on his bar? Because that's the impression I get when he looks at me."

Aadit sighed and held up his hands in apology. 

"I trust you."

"Good," she said, putting it out of her mind, "I'd hate to have to throw these fries at you."

***

"Hey Mint," she greeted as she stepped out of the house.

"Hey, sorry to bother you, do you have a minute?"

"Probably even two or three," she agreed, and let him in through the gate. It was weird, she'd never really spoken that much to him, but she felt guilty enough about the bandages wrapped around his head that she couldn't really say no. She knew he was still spending nights at the clinic so Xu could monitor him while he was sleeping.

"Gale said you were the one to talk to about this project."

"Please tell me you're not pulling an Albert. I hate when he says he needs something in three days and then sends me to the Research Center. Do you have a schematic?" 

"Yeah," he said, and pulled a folder from his satchel. She nodded to her worktable and he smoothed the diagram across the surface. 

Maya let out a long whistle and leaned over it.

"Oh man."

"I brought this schematic from Vegas 5, but it looks absurdly complicated. I can't make heads or tails of it. Do you think you could…?"

She scratched her head and considered while she looked around the workshop. She'd have to make some more wire. She'd have to make a lot more wire. 

"When do you need it by?"

"Oh. It would make completing the tunnel a _lot_ faster, but I don't have any specific requirement for it."

"What do you want the tip made from? Because carbon steel or iron won't hold for very long if you're digging through a mountain."

She could make it work, though. There were plenty of sigils for hardening and strengthening, but after a while it would be pretty suspicious for anyone with two brain cells to rub together.

"Oh, don't worry about that. You remember that AI?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Sorry, of course," he laughed. "The Civil Corps went and retrieved the drill-tip from it for me."

"Huh. Okay."

His eyes widened.

"You'll build it?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. Have them deliver the drill-tip to me. I'll have to size the rest of the machine to it. Give me a week or so."

"A week? Wow, you must be one hell of a builder."

"Nah. It's all dark magic.”

***

"Well damn."

The Civil Corps had delivered the drill-tip later that morning, Spacer and Arrow both dragging the cart it was strapped to. Maya had never been more thankful for the crane A&G installed with her last assembly station upgrade. 

She'd already spent a good chunk of time pulling the guts out of it, careful to arrange everything so she'd be able to put it back together later, when she saw them. Runes carved in circles on the inside, from the end all the way down to the tip.

She ran a hand over the outside layer and laughed, and then couldn't stop laughing. 

Ancient technology her _ass_. 

***

Django gave her a significant look and handed her a paper wrapped package one evening, when she was leaving the restaurant with Presley.

When she got home and opened it, it was a book about Old World mythology and he'd marked a chapter called 'Prometheus'. 

***

"Darling?"

Maya blinked at him. She hadn't slept much, or at all, so she'd kind of forgotten that he'd come around that morning and asked to use one of her small, out of the way furnaces. He'd been puttering around all afternoon in the yard while she'd been welding the final plates onto The Driller. She was glad that she'd already packed away his birthday gifts, because she had definitely been too distracted to supervise him.

"Uh huh?"

"What is that?"

"It's for Mint. So they can finish the tunnel. Do you like it?"

"How are you going to get it out of the yard?"

She looked at him, startled by the question, and then spun around to look at the machine.

"Oh. Shit. I uh, I guess I'll have to talk to Albert. You finish whatever you were working on?"

"Yes," he said with a secret smile. Maya narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Can I see?"

"Patience."

"I'm not sure I possess that virtue."

***

"Wow," Mint said when she bullied him and Albert down to her workshop to look at The Driller.

"Yes, I can see your problem. How did you not think about the fence when you were building it?"

"Look man, I was too excited. It isn't everyday that someone hands you a project like _that_ ," she said and waved her hand at the assembly station before she rounded on Mint. "Do you like it?"

"Does it work?"

"Hell yeah, it works."

"You _must_ have used dark magic. I can't believe it."

Maya buffed her nails on her chest and grinned at him.

"It'll definitely be fine for digging your tunnel. That drill bit was, uh, something else," she said with a laugh.

"I've got to go talk to Mayor Gale. We could have the tunnel done in _days_ instead of _months_ ," Mint jumped and hopped off.

She and Albert watched him stumble up the road. 

"I guess we'll be moving up the plans for South Block," Albert commented. "I'll send a team to take care of the fence this afternoon."

***

Maya always thought it was cute, when she got into town early enough to see Toby practicing with Django. As far as role models went, the little blonde boy could have done much worse than the former Knight (like Jack, who looked up to _Higgins_ ), and Django, as it turned out, was great with kids.

Toby fumbled a stroke when she approached and Django slowed just enough for the kid to recover and catch up.

“So, I liked the book.”

“Uh huh?”

She knew she had some of his attention, because he turned just slightly when she stopped to his side well out of the way, but not all.

“But I gotta tell you that I don’t see where you’re going with it.”

Django sighed and lowered his sword. Toby made a disappointed noise, but did the same.

“And to think I had such high hopes for you.”

She slapped his arm. He chuckled and squeezed her shoulder.

“Alright, Toby, off to school.”

“But Djaaangoo,” the kid whined.

“That was the deal with your mom, remember? Go on, kiddo.”

Toby huffed, but put his practice sword on the rack and waved to them when he walked off. Maya leaned against the wall by the door while she waited for Django to clean up and let her into the restaurant.

“Lightning is free,” he said, after they settled at the bar, “because it’s all just potential. It's natural. It’s in the air waiting to be called. Like when you shock yourself on a door handle.”

“I’m pretty sure fire is natural, too.”

“No, the knowledge for it had to be stolen.”

“Django,” she sighed, “help me out here.”

“We need fire to survive, for warmth and food and light, but it can’t just _happen_. Something must ignite it, and there must be fuel for it to burn. It isn’t _free_.”

Maya kicked the bar while she considered that. He was talking about a cost, but she couldn't figure out why that cost would be different with a rune or without. She'd _tried_ the fire sigil and it had been fine.

She groaned in frustration and he patted her shoulder. 

"It's just a theory."

"You have others?"

He gave her a long measuring look before he turned away and stood.

"None that make as much sense."

***

She paused in her jog through town toward the Research Center when she spotted Aadit at the flower shop with a giggling Alice. Maya ambled over.

"What are you two looking all suspicious here for?" 

"Nothing!" Alice answered, too quick to be true. She raised an eyebrow at Aadit who pocketed _something_.

"It's nothing," he assured her. 

"Uh huh," she said, and leveled a finger at Alice. "You can't keep using him as a stand in for your story if you aren't going to _invite_ me."

"Hmm. I have been feeling a little stuck lately. Do you think you guys could meet me sometime? Maybe outside the Tree Farm?"

"Tomorrow?" Aadit suggested.

"Tomorrow is the Autumn Festival."

"And _your birthday,_ " Maya reminded him.

"Oh! I guess tomorrow would be _perfect,_ " Alice said. She looked like she might swoon.

Maya eyed both of them for a moment, but then turned with a shrug. 

“Okay, see you then, I guess. I gotta go see a lady about a bus.”

***

Alice ran ahead to get 'set up,' so Maya made Aadit detour to the workshop so she could pick up the packages from inside her door.

"What's all that?" he asked, suspicious.

" _Patience,"_ she taunted.

They walked up to the Tree Farm together instead of taking the Dee Dee, the old trees on one side and the tall wheat of Emily and Sophie's farm on the other. 

When Aadit left to drop the gifts at the house, Maya plopped in the grass so she could see where Sam was hiding behind a big tree. The blonde woman waved excitedly to her. Maya nodded back, eyeing the her like she was crazy.

"Now," Alice said and clapped her hands together. 

"This scene is early on, when our hero is just a knight-in-training. He's walking home one night and encounters a troublemaker in the alley."

Sam leapt from behind the tree.

"You! The pathetic looking one! Hand over your gold to me!"

"Our hero is clearly startled," Alice said, gesturing to Aadit's shocked face. Poor guy hadn't seen Sam behind the tree and she had way overplayed those lines, “but nonetheless stands his ground and replies…"

"Never! You'll have to take it by force!" 

Maya could guess where Alice was going with and stood with a sigh.

"Now, you two have to fight," she told them. Aadit gaped at her.

"You want me to _fight_ her?" he asked, appalled. 

"Oh," Alice said disappointed, “that's right, you don't-"

"I've got it," Maya said, coming to rest a hand on Aadit's elbow. Alice sighed in relief, while Sam grinned and cracked her knuckles. Maya just handed her jacket off to the tall man she was leaning against.

Maya was more confident than she had been for her test. She and Sam still sparred on occasion, and it wasn't like the blonde woman was a slouch by any means. She trained constantly, afraid she'd fall behind Arlo and Remington, but Maya still spent afternoons with Django _and_ she'd picked up a few things from sparring with the Captain. She twisted out of the way of Sam's kick and then grappled the other woman, finally throwing her over her shoulders. 

Sam sat up, startled but with a grin on her face.

"Damn, kid."

Alice jumped in joy.

"Oh, thank you all so much! Thanks to your efforts, I think I can picture the scene clearly. Oh! I have to write this down!"

"I'm gonna make sure she doesn't kill herself getting home," Sam told them, hooking a thumb over her shoulder and jogging off. 

"Thank you. I didn't know she had _that_ in mind," Aadit said and kissed her hair. "You were amazing."

"Aw, shucks," she said, and scuffed her shoe in the dirt. He chuckled, not buying it, so she straightened and accepted her jacket. "Come on. You gotta open the thing."

He offered her his elbow and pushed open the gate with one hand. They settled on the steps where he'd left the packages.

"Okay, okay, open this one first," she said, taking the second to hold in her lap. "I'm not sure if you're gonna like it. It's kind of for my own peace of mind."

"Oh," he said, after he'd unwrapped the iron sword.

"I'm sorry, I know, but I don't like that you go out so early by yourself and it would just make me feel better if you had-"

He cut her off by grabbing her hair and pulling her forward for a kiss.

"No, I love it. I just never expected you to give me something like this."

Maya grinned, surprised. 

"I made it for you. I can show you how to use it."

"I grew up in a warzone, darling," he laughed, pulling her back toward him. When he finally let her go her lips felt bruised and she was pleasantly dazed.

"Right, okay."

The fisherman's axe got an even _better_ reaction and Maya wondered why she wasn't just giving him gifts _every day_ if he was going to ravish her like that each time.

"How did you know?"

"You've been needing an upgrade," Maya shrugged, watching him run his hand along the blade, fingers catching on the runes she'd painstakingly etched. He lifted the handle to examine them better. 

"What are these?"

"Okay, don't laugh. Mom taught me those. It's to help keep the blade strong so you don't need to sharpen it as much," she explained. 

"They work?"

"Yeah. I used a couple like that to enhance my sword."

"I thought you're always complaining they're garbage?"

"No, the ones _Xu_ wants are garbage. These are real. Look, this one is strength," she said, touching the sigil, "this one is durability, and this one is for endurance."

"That's amazing."

Maya smiled and had to look away from the wonder in his face.

"I'm glad you like it. Hey, you wanna go for a walk while we're up here? I haven't seen the trees since summer."

"I was about to ask you the same thing."

He let her meander for a while, standing at a distance when she went to cuddle the panbats. The Tree Farm was a totally different experience in the autumn, the leaves an explosion of color above and crunching under her boots below. Aadit looked somehow more alive in the weather, the layered sweater look fitting him so well among the trees that Maya tugged at his hair until her bent to kiss her again.

He led her to the northern edge, to the spot where they had that first picnic, and for all it had changed it was just as beautiful. 

"I have something for you as well."

"Hmm?" she asked, unable to tear her eyes away.

Aadit shifted behind her.

"Maya."

She spun to look at him, and took half a step back when he was down on one knee. 

"Uh, what are you doing?" 

Maya expected him to roll his eyes, but he just grinned and didn't stop _looking_ at her. 

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked, and pulled a silver band from his pocket. 

"Oh shit."

"Will you marry me?"

"Oh _shit,_ " she repeated. Her brain was stuck. "Really?"

He did roll his eyes at that.

"Really."

"Oh man, yeah. I mean, yes. Of course."

He barely had the ring over her knuckle before she tackled him and when he rolled to press her into the leaves it felt like she'd come home.

He palmed her breast through her shirt and she sighed against his mouth.

"Aadit, what if some-"

"No one will see us," he assured her, and helped her out of her shirt.

***

To say that no one was more surprised than Maya would be an understatement, because _no one but Maya was surprised._

Aadit insisted they go to The Round Table to celebrate and Maya had bought into his casual act, right up until she pushed the door open. 

"Congratulations!"

It seemed like the whole town was packed into the restaurant, everyone clamoring for her attention.

"You set this up?" she asked, turning to Aadit. He smiled fondly and kissed her forehead.

"This? No, this was all Sonia."

"You knew!" she yelled and rounded on her friend, "and you didn't _tell_ me!"

"Of course I knew. I'm just mad I missed the acting."

"Oh my God, Alice and Sam were in on it?"

She felt dazed and overwhelmed and so happy it was a wonder her heart didn't burst, tucked under Aadit's arm and surrounded by friends.

"So much for perfect gentleman, huh?" Sonia asked. The other woman pulled a leaf out of her hair and poked the side of her neck. 

"God damn it," Maya muttered, red with embarrassment.

"So when is the big day?"

***

"I thought you didn't drink on the job?"

"Well, young one, this is a celebration, isn't it? Congratulations," he said and offered her a glass. She clinked it to his and leaned back against the bar.

***

"Wuzzat?"

Aadit had stepped back into the house from his morning walk and she could see him watching her through the open door to the bedroom. He had woken her early with a kiss to her temple when he left and the wards had woken her again when he returned, and she was tired and maybe a little hungover from the party. She rolled just a little too far to get a better look at him and fell with a start onto the floor. 

“Looked like a plane. It landed over by the eastern gate.”

“Huh,” was all Maya said as she climbed back into bed and pulled the covers over her face.

“You don’t want to go see who it is?”

“No. The Mayor mentioned Atara was sending an inspector to check out the ruins, remember? I’m sure it’s just them.”

“It looked like a Flying Pigs plane.”

Maya sat up with a gasp.

“Oh shit. Arlo is going to love that. Yeah, yeah, I’m going, I gotta meet them.”

***

Maya was starstruck. 

Mali was _so cool._

The older woman shook her hand when she burst into Civil Corps HQ that morning, and told her that Arlo had said good things about her. 

She thought she might die of embarrassment. 

"I'm counting on you as my go-to builder," Mali said after they settled back on the couches, Arlo proud and with his arm around her shoulders.

"Of course. Anything you need."

"I've already spotted one issue. It looked like there was a ruin up on the Western Plateau, but I didn't see a lift as I was flying over."

"Yeah, yes, I can do that," Maya agreed, not even thinking. Mali chuckled. 

"Good. Thank you. I'll talk to your Research Center and get you a diagram."

Maya swooned against Arlo. 

"I think I'm in love."

"You're getting married," he reminded her. 

"Yeah, but she's _going to get me a diagram_."

Arlo chuckled and patted her shoulder.

"She's been traumatised by our local construction company," he explained to Mali, who just laughed. 

***

She didn't see very much of anyone that Monday or Tuesday, tinkering around near the Western Plateau building Mali's lift, so it was nice when she left the house on Wednesday night to meet Presley for dinner. 

"You know, he came to ask me for my blessing?"

Maya paused with a forkful of spaghetti halfway to her mouth and had to put it down, because Presley's face was full of emotion and honestly that statement did something funny to her heart as well. She was so strangely touched by Aadit's thoughtfulness that it felt like she might cry. 

She joked a lot and called him _dad_ or _pops_ , mostly to get a rise out of him, but also because she'd never had a better mentor _or_ father figure. 

"Wow," she choked, swallowing around a lump in her throat, "I didn't think I could love that man anymore, but wow."

"Did you know he _made_ that ring?"

"Is that why he wanted to use my furnace?"

Presley reached across the table and grabbed her hand and she really did start crying then.

"I'm _so proud_ of you."

"Will you, I mean would you consider, uh. Will you walk me down the aisle?"

"Nothing would make me happier."

***

"You need a what for a what, now?"

Mali smiled. Maya sighed and walked over to open the gate. The wards had practically kicked her awake and it was early and she wasn't even dressed.

"Advanced engines," the adventurer repeated. 

"Yeah, I have some of those. Somewhere."

Maya puffed out her cheeks and looked around the yard. She had a bad track record of finding engines in the mess.

"You wanna hang out for a minute? Let me get dressed and I'll find them," she offered. 

"Sure. Dress for ruin diving. I'm going to need help installing them."

"I see," she sighed, because of course, "come in, then. You want some coffee?"

***

Maya still liked Mali, even though the other woman put milk and sugar in her coffee and that was an abomination.

Advanced engines were big, Maya had no idea what the hell kind of door would need not one but _two_ to operate, so they loaded them into her cart and made small talk on the walk over.

"Normally I wouldn't ask a builder to accompany me without more backup, but Arlo says you know how to handle yourself," the other woman explained, gesturing to the sword strapped to Maya's back.

"Well, I haven't died yet."

Not for lack of effort on the rogue creature/AI/mutant front. Sam had been right, back at the beginning, to suggest that learning how to defend herself might make her feel better, but she _still_ had nightmares sometimes and she was _still_ waiting for the inevitable Rat Queen to storm out of the ruins. Speaking of.

"There better not be rats."

"No rats," Mali agreed. "There isn't too much danger in this ruin. I've only run into a few bots and the like. Just stick close to me and you'll be fine."

"You know, Sam told me that once and I was _still_ almost choked to death."

Mali laughed and patted her on top of her head.

"Come on. This is the door that won't open."

Maya whistled and rapped a knuckle against the heavy metal. It seemed like some kind of blast door, more solid even than the space station Ack had crash landed in. Two engines made sense. It probably needed one to move each side.

Unfortunately it wasn't as simple as just hooking them up, but it _was_ as simple as finding the door control after that. 

"This has been my favorite ruin diving experience to date," she commented, peering around the big room on the other side of the doors. It seemed empty, just a bank of computers on one wall. It had probably been some kind of control hub, back in the Age of Corruption.

"You know you probably just jinxed us."

Maya huffed but stuck close to Mali when the other woman went to poke around at the computers.

"Would you look at that!" she adventurer exclaimed. 

"Huh?"

"It's a locator of some sort. All Source?"

"Isn't that some kind of AI? Petra mentioned there's supposed to be one around here."

"A pretty powerful one," Mali murmured. Maya flinched and covered her head when the alarms started blaring.

"Oops. I guess I triggered something. We should get out of here."

The hallways were filled with traps after that. Laser walls and flamethrowers and Maya rolled her eyes at a wall of spikes even as they ran through them, because _really?_

"We're gonna have to disable all of this before we can get out!" Mali yelled, skidding to a halt next to a map at the end of one hallway, "this way!"

The room they ended up in seemed promising except for the flying pig robot guardian. 

"I told you you jinxed us," Mali commented and leapt to slam her fist into the things snout. 

Mali was incredible. The power that erupted when she slammed her fist into the floor was so shocking that Maya would have assumed magic if she couldn't sense the lack of it. Her own attacks did little more than dent the plating on the side of the machine. Either it was made of some kind of metal she'd never seen, or it was reinforced with runes the way the drill-tip had been. 

She rolled to the side when the machine spun and flew straight at her. Maya suspected that she could disable it with a shock of lightning, but before she needed to Mali kicked the head right off. It landed against the wall and sent out a final sad stream of bubbles before it went dark, the body sparking and twitching for a while longer. 

"Man. And I thought you were cool _before."_

Mali laughed and dusted off her shirt.

"You're not bad. You ever think of joining the Flying Pigs?"

"Nope, no thank you, I'll leave the adventuring to people who are more, uh, adventurous."

"Well, let's get out of here. I'll come back with Arlo and collect that computer. Your Research Center should be able to figure it out."

"Still my favorite ruin dive."

***

"What are you working on?"

Maya heard the door from the shower click open and very carefully didn't cover the papers when he leaned over to kiss the back of her neck.

"Just doodling."

"More talismans for Xu?" he teased.

She turned to fix him with a look.

"You like them too, don't _even,_ " she accused.

He raised his hands in defeat and left to poke around her, their, bookcase.

She sighed and turned back to the desk, and the runes littering the pages. She was trying to figure out how to give Aadit access to the yard without the wards always needing her to open them. She could just add him to the access line, but then he wouldn't be able to let people in himself and that could be awkward. He and Dawa were pretty close and it would be weird if the other man dropped by to visit but then felt like he couldn't enter the yard. 

' _Hmm_ ,' she thought and tapped the pencil on the desk.

Maybe if she clustered it differently and added a line for invitation. Would that work? She drew the new arrangement and then touched the paper.

"I'm a genius!" she cried, spinning around to look at her fiance and felt her heart stutter to think of him like that.

"Of course, darling."

"Shut up. I _am,_ " she told him. "Should we go to bed?"

“Big day tomorrow,” he agreed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys! There are officially gonna be 11 chapters! And they are all basically written! A few of them are pretty short so I'm not sure how to space those out, because I don't want to give you just 500 words or something and call it a week. I'm kind of over the whole "wait a while before you post!" thing, TBH. I just want to give you guys the whole thing!
> 
> *rolls on the floor*
> 
> I don't know. Feel free to let me know what you think!


	5. Winter, Year 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wild Rogue Knight appears. It's not great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I have a problem. Well, I have a few problems.
> 
> 1) I realized the other day that I totally forgot about the wind turbine quest and that would have totally changed the timing in Autumn. Mali still showed up in that season on my playthrough, but a little later than I intended. Whoops. I've mostly been writing from memory and using the wiki ANYWAY so I've pretty much given up on trying to play and write at the same time.
> 
> 2) My bf is coming through and reading behind me and "proofreading" the chapters? And, I mean, he is finding some good typos for me (I love you, babe), but he also just learned what an em dash is and he wants me to use them just EVERYWHERE. HELP ME.
> 
> In the meantime, though, these mistakes are still mine.
> 
> And I don't own MTAP.
> 
> Okay, I'm done.

Someone had put up string lights.

That was the only coherent thought in her head when Presley took her arm and led her down the path set up between the chairs in Peach Plaza. 

She saw Sonia and Django, Arlo and Remington and Sam, but then she saw Aadit waiting for her near the fountain and nothing else mattered after that. 

It was only them when Presley put her hand in his. It was only them when Minister Lee recited the vows. It was only them when they shared a kiss and the crowd cheered.

He swept her off her feet, and it was only them on the path out of town and only them when they crossed the threshold. 

She loosened his tie and flung it across the room, and it was only them when he chased her through the house and tackled her to the bed. It was only them when they flipped and she pressed him into the pillows, and it was only them when he shifted his hips and unzipped her dress and it was only them. 

It was only them.

***

"No, Albert, no can do."

"Come on, Maya."

"It'll take me a week just to get the schematic."

"The Research Center will have it for you tomorrow."

"Yeah, but then _you_ have to approve it and then _he_ has to approve it," she said, looking at Musa who was sitting in on the meeting, "and if it has to be as strong as you say, I'm gonna need at _least_ two hoisters and a bunch of pulleys. So many pulleys. And do you know what pulleys need? Lubricant. And do you know where you get that? The ruins."

She sat back with a huff and crossed her arms over her chest. Albert seemed properly chastised, but Musa looked like he was trying not to be amused.

"How do you not have all of that already? You get bored and just start stockpiling things."

Maya sighed, "I don't know. Maybe I do. I'll have to ask Aadit. He's been _organizing."_

"Uh oh."

"Married life not sitting well with you?" Musa asked. 

"No it is, don't get me wrong, it's amazing and I've never been happier, but my husband is so _meticulous._ How am I supposed to find a screwdriver if they're on the pegboard and not in the grass somewhere? Who can work under those conditions, I ask you."

"How are you the best workshop in town?"

"Ouch. I'm awesome. You can ask anybody, but specifically you should ask Mint because Mint is my biggest fan."

"When was the last time you slept?" Albert asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, I uh, don't know? What day is it?"

"Thursday," Musa answered. 

"Huh. Really?"

"I'm getting Sonia," Albert decided. 

"No, don't get Sonia. Albert. Albert, no."

She tried to catch his arm, but slumped against the table in defeat and whined as he stomped out of the office. 

"Can you do it in a week with a diagram?"

"It won't even take that long. He's right, I do stockpile things. The schematic is just so that Albert can't get pissy when it doesn't look like how he imagined, but I guarantee that the Research Center is gonna give you something with the same concept as that lift I just built."

"I don't care what it looks like, as long as it works."

"Well, Mr. Musa," she said, twisting to offer him her hand, "we have a deal."

***

Sonia drug her by her arm down the road, face scrunched and unhappy.

"Why aren't you sleeping?"

"I've been busy."

"Too busy to _sleep?_ "

Maya shrugged and bumped the gate open with her hip. Between the lift for Mali and then the adventure in the ruin _with_ Mali and then the material commissions and Albert's stupid lighthouse for the harbor, the days before and after her wedding had passed in a blur. Aadit opened the door before they reached it and Sonia shoved Maya into his arms. 

"Fix this," she demanded. "She isn't sleeping again."

Maya pouted while the other woman stomped back out the gate.

"Darling," Aadit sighed, and Maya wrapped her arms around his torso so he'd hold her. She mashed her face against his sweater and mumbled. 

"Sorry?" he asked.

"I'm not _tired._ "

He sighed and scratched her scalp, "do you want me to read to you?"

Maya groaned. She didn't have time for a nap, there was a crane to build, and him reading to her was a surefire way to knock her right out. Something about the sound of his voice in a gentle rhythm, combined with the way she felt _so safe_ tucked against him. 

Still, she couldn't deal with the disappointed look he was giving her.

"Yeah, okay."

He led her into the house and bullied her into settling on the couch. 

Maya was vaguely aware that he was reading the mythology book from Django.

The stories sounded different when Aadit read them, more dramatic and harrowing, and there was a realization hovering just beyond her reach. Tools versus blunt force, an axe as opposed to kicking a tree down, pulling something into the world instead of manipulating what was already there.

"Isn't it kind of strange?"

The question jostled Maya from the almost sleep she's been hovering in, so comfortable with her head pillowed on his lap that if she never moved again it would have been fine.

"What's strange?"

"Musa. The richest man in the free cities? He must be pretty strong to travel by himself."

"I don't know," she slurred, and rolled to press her cheek into his thigh, "maybe. He seems like a nice guy, though."

Aadit hummed and continued reading.

***

Tuesday she walked into town to find Sam and poor little Nora trying to keep Merlin and Minister Lee from coming to blows. Maya sighed and went over to help. 

"You stole it!" Merlin accused, trying to get around Sam. 

"We would never stoop so low as to steal!"

"What's going on?" Maya asked Petra. The other woman sighed.

"The Locator Computer was at our workstation last night, but it's missing."

"Wait," Nora said, "you mean that thing Inspector Mali just found?"

"Yes. It's really important to us."

"Petra, we really didn't take it. Look, Sam, you can search the Temple."

"What!" Lee yelled, "Nora, no, I won't allow them to rifle through the Church!"

"Fine," Merlin stomped, "we'll take this to the Mayor."

Sam followed the two irate adults into Gale's office. Petra fixed Nora with a last pleading look, but then turned around back to the Research Center with a sigh. 

"I'll go make sure nothing gets set on fire," Maya assured Nora, who nodded a little sadly and trudged toward the Church. 

The argument raging in the office sounded brutal, so Maya waited for a few moments before she chanced opening the door.

"Now, now!" Gale demanded, silencing the room. "You two go back to work!"

Merlin and Lee grumbled on the way out of the office, trading barbs the whole way. Gale sighed.

"Sam, I'm sorry that you're the only one around to deal with this."

"No worries, Mayor."

"Wait, where are Remington and Arlo?" Maya asked.

"Mali took them to investigate some of the ruins farther out. They'll probably be gone for a few days."

"Yikes."

"This could not have happened at a worse time, what with Tody burning down the warehouse at the harbor."

"Wait, he did _what?"_ Maya asked. How had she not heard about that? Oh man, was her crane okay?

"I'll get to the bottom of this, Mayor," Sam promised and left to begin her investigation. 

***

"Albert!" she demanded, stomping into the A&G office and upsetting QQ. The poor pig ran to her, scared, and she bent to scratch his head, ignoring the glare Gust was giving her.

Albert was looking a little defeated, slumped over his desk with his head in his hands.

“Maya. I was just about to come find you.”

“Because you let Tody burn down the harbor?!”

He sighed.

“Your crane is fine. Sit down. I need a favor.”

Maya was not impressed, especially after having to deal with a glum Petra who told her they didn’t have the technology to build a new air conditioning unit and she’d have to find one in the ruins somewhere.

***

She was sipping coffee with Presley early the next morning when Nora dropped into the seat next to her. 

“Uhh. Hi?”

“That was a really unpleasant argument,” she stated.

“Yeah?”

“Listen, I know you don’t really agree with the Church, but you must know that we didn’t take that Locator Computer. We aren’t enforcers, and I’m against theft on every level.”

“No, I know,” Maya agreed. 

“This is putting a lot of stress on Minister Lee and I,” Nora continued.

“You want me to go help Sam with the investigation,” she realized.

“I’d do it myself, but…”

“But you can’t get close to the investigation as part of the accused party,” Maya finished, and looked to Presley for his opinion. He shrugged.

“I think it’s a good idea. We have no idea how long it will take the rest of the Civil Corps to get back and it would ease tensions in town to have this resolved.”

“Sam trusts you,” Nora added. “Arlo trusts you. I’m trusting you.”

“Oh, good. No pressure.”

***

"Nora sent you to help?"

"I don't know why you're surprised," Maya commented. Nora was really sweet and probably hated that she'd been accused of _any_ crime. She also suspected the missionary wanted her name cleared before Arlo and the others got back.

"I guess. You want to take another look around the Research Center and Museum for me? I'm pretty worn out, maybe I missed something."

"Yeah, sure."

Maya started in the Museum, mostly as a chance to admire the fish, before she made her way through to the Research Center. Petra, at least, was glad to see more people investigating and was happy to explain to Maya where the computer had been and walk her through the night before and the morning after it went missing. It seemed like a pretty clean crime. 

"You don't remember any suspicious tourists wandering through or anything?"

"Maya, we don't really get a lot of foot traffic in here. Especially not with the Museum next door now."

"Do you guys lock the door?"

"Of course we do!" Merlin yelled. Maya held her hands up. 

"No, I mean the one between the Museum and the Research Center."

"Oh," Petra said, her eyes wide, "no, we don't."

"Okay, so maybe whoever it was got in through there," Maya suggested, and wandered back to the Museum. She checked over the windows and doors until she finally made it to the back. The emergency exit, when she pressed against it, wasn't even latched. 

"How long has this door been broken?" she asked, peering into the little strip of space between the Museum and the town wall. Almost right outside was a purple bowler hat. Maya picked it up and flipped it in her hands. It seemed familiar. 

"I didn't even know it was broken," Merlin admitted. 

"I'll come fix it for you tomorrow," she promised, striding back to the front of the Museum, "I gotta go talk to Sam."

***

"I didn't even think of that," Sam said, fingering the hat. "This belongs to Tuss. You know, I originally suspected the bandit brothers, but this seems kind of… I dunno. Clean for them."

"The lock on the door was busted. They _do_ have a history of breaking property," Maya pointed out. 

"I guess. They were holed up in a cave on the Bassanio Heights last we checked. Let's go get your gear in case they want to put up a fight."

Sam gestured for her to climb on Teddy behind her and took them through town to her workshop. Aadit was home from work for lunch when Maya let the Civil Corps woman into the house.

"Hey," he greeted from the kitchen, "what're you ladies up to?"

Sam dropped the hat on the table and slumped down in a chair.

"Look familiar?" she asked.

"Kind of. Tuss?"

"We think they're the ones who stole that computer from the Research Center," Maya explained, walking over while she strapped her sword to her back. 

"Why though?"

"That's what I'm wondering," Sam murmured.

"Because they're assholes? We're gonna go track them down."

Aadit chuckled and caught her up for a hug.

"Well, be careful. You guys want a sandwich before you go?"

***

“How come you beat them up and Huss is all about you, but I don’t fall for one little scheme and they have it out for me?” Maya asked, after the Locator Computer had been returned to the Research Center and the brothers were safely locked away in the cell, and she'd glared at Tody a little. He didn't even seem remotely sorry to have endangered her crane. 

Maya was glad she'd finally finished the upgrade to the jail, because it would have been pretty awkward to have prisoners and nowhere to keep them. 

Sam laughed and clapped her on the shoulder.

"I dunno, kid, but good work. Arlo and the others should be back soon. I'll leave them for him to talk to."

"Alright. Well, you don't know where I could get an air conditioning unit, do you?"

Sam gave her a funny look and shook her head. 

"Can't say I do. But maybe the Captain will have an idea?"

Maya shrugged and went to pick up dinner at The Round Table.

***

"Hey, I didn't think you'd be back already," Aadit said after he got home. Maya shrugged and stood from the couch.

“Tuss and Huss are not elite criminals or anything. Sam’s got them locked up with Tody now. I picked up dinner,” she said, pointing to the counter where she’d laid everything out. He propped his axe near the door and walked into the kitchen. 

“It went okay, then?”

“They claim they’re innocent because they _bought_ the computer.”

“Why?” he asked, face scrunched in confusion. 

“I dunno. I don’t know why they’d even want it, but Arlo can sort it out. Not my problem anymore.”

He kissed her forehead when she handed him a plate.

"What's this?" Aadit asked a moment later, fingering the letter she'd dropped on their table. 

"From Pa," she shrugged.

"Why didn’t you open it?"

"I'm waiting until I'm in a mood where his bullshit will seem funny instead of making me mad."

He chuckled and took her hand, “darling, just open it.”

She shoved a bite of spaghetti in her mouth and pulled her hand away to gesture for it, ripping the top of the envelope.

“Blah, blah, blah, The Great Begeondan, _oh so many wonders,"_ she read, and passed the letter off to her husband. “Who cares?”

Aadit read over the letter and then spent a long moment looking at the included photo while Maya scraped the rest of her pasta into her mouth. When he was done, she crumpled the note and tossed it into the trash. 

“Can I keep the picture?”

“Whatever floats your boat,” Maya shrugged, and left to go sprawl on the couch. She heard him poking around in the kitchen for a while, putting away the food and running water over the plates. When he finally came to join her on the couch she was half asleep and he lifted her legs to settle at the end.

"Heeeey,” she said, nudging him with her toes.

"What did you do?" he sighed.

"What! I didn't do anything."

"Okay," he agreed, "what are you planning to do?"

Maya sat up and crawled over to straddle his lap.

"So, there's this reeeeally nice chainsaw for sale in Sou-"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You'll cut your arm off-"

"I would not!"

"-and then I'll be in trouble for letting you cut your arm off. Why do you even want a chainsaw?"

"It would make logging so much easier."

"Darling."

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember where I work?"

"The… Tree Farm?"

"Where I am a professional…?"

"Logger?"

"Exactly. My rates for helping beautiful women are extremely reasonable. My rates when that woman is my wife are even lower."

"Even if I need poplar wood from the desert?"

Aadit sighed and let his head fall onto her shoulder.

"For the sake of your arms."

***

The Portia Times office was not as glamorous as Maya had expected. 

"Hey, builder-welder! I didn't think you'd show up!"

She blinked and stared at the other woman for a moment, because there was so much in that statement that she needed to address.

"Okay, just, first? Don't send me mail. I almost never check my mail, everyone knows that. And like, you saw me in town yesterday, why didn't you say something?"

Mei shrugged.

"Second, do you even like, know what a builder does?" 

"Why would I know that? I'm a reporter."

"Um, _because_ you're a reporter? Look, what did you need?"

"Our office doesn't look like much, right?"

"Uh…"

"HQ is underfunding us. Erwa and I need a builder to help us put this place on the map!"

"I see."

"I actually already asked Higgins and Wang, but they told me no. Higgins told me to get a budget!"

"Okay, so, Higgins I get, I guess. He's right there. But why Wang?"

"Wang is my boyfriend."

"I- what? You're _dating_ a builder and you don't know _what a builder does?"_

"Look, I just need something something so Erwa and I don't have to keep hand copying all the articles."

"Like a Printing Press?"

"Oh! Yeah, that would be awesome!"

"Uh huh," Maya agreed with her most skeptical look.

***

"Have I told you about my friend in the Council Guard?" Arlo asked, trying to distract her from her turn at darts. Mali groaned behind them.

"Nope. How'd you meet him?" Maya asked absently. Her first dart missed the 30 point triangle by _just_ a hair. 

"Name of Stanza. He really took me under his wing when I was out there training before I joined the Civil Corps."

"Arlo," Mali sighed. 

"That was nice of him," Maya said, jumping in joy when her second and third darts hit the mark. 

"I learned a lot from him. Do you know what his signature move is?"

"Is that where you learned how to kick people like an asshole?"

"No, no, everyone loves this guy. He just stanza round."

Her last dart missed the board entirely when she turned and rounded on Arlo.

"Are you _kidding me?_ That's the _worst joke_ I have _ever heard,"_ she hissed, shoving at Arlo's chest while he was still laughing too hard to defend himself, "I swear to God, Arlo."

"Django is going to kill you," Arlo gasped out, pointing at the wall.

Maya winced and went to yank the dart out of the plaster wall, trying to smooth over the hole with her finger. Yeah, she was a dead woman walking. 

"Shit. Just… don't tell him, okay? I'll come sneak in and fix it tomorrow."

"Fix what?" Django asked from the door of the game room, watching her with a raised eyebrow. Maya hid the dart behind her back and put on her best "nothing to see here, move along," face. 

"Nothing! Nothing!" she dropped the dart and held up her hands to stall him when he walked over. He physically moved her by lifting at her elbows. "I'll fix it, I promise. I'll fix it. This is Arlo's fault, anyway. He only knows jokes that are so bad you want to murder him."

Django patted her on her head.

"You better beat him them, baby girl. I'll see you tomorrow for this," he said, poking at the hole in the wall before he left again.

"Huh."

"What?" Maya asked.

"I thought for sure he'd be more angry."

"I said I'd fix it. It's just a little hole anyway. I can't believe this doesn't happen all the time."

Arlo shook his head and sighed. Mali also had a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Sometimes I think you have no idea what's going on around you."

"Look, are you gonna keep being jerky and mysterious or are you gonna take your turn?"

When Erwa found her a few minutes later she was shit talking Arlo so badly that he was _actually_ losing, because he was laughing so hard. 

"So, Mei thinks you're mean and told me you refused to help us."

Maya sighed and eyed him, because a) she'd never spoken to this Hulu and b) that is not what happened _at all._

"Okay, look, Erwa, you seem like a reasonable guy so I feel comfortable telling you that your colleague is insane. Like, she's not all there. That is not what I said. I told her to get me a diagram and _then_ I would build it free of charge, but she didn't even know that she _wanted a printing press_ and I'm not gonna play ping pong between her and the Research Center trying to get her to approve something that she _doesn't even know what it is."_

"That's what I figured," Erwa sighed, "which is why I talked to Petra."

The folder he handed to her had puppy stickers on it. 

"I stole it from Mei," he explained when she picked at one of them skeptically. 

"Right."

***

"Baby girl."

"No, Django. Nope, I'm _done_. _You_ try."

She grabbed his hand and he let her have it, dragging him over to the kitchen drawer that she knew he kept his junk in. She pulled out a marker and pinned his forearm to the counter while she pushed up his sleeve to trace barrier under the sigil near his elbow.

If that was were he was used to channeling through, she reasoned, maybe it would be easier to focus.

"Try," she demanded. 

"It doesn't work like that."

"But I don't understand _why not._ "

It didn't make any sense. It he could use _one_ he should be able to use others. 

He sighed and took a step away, but nothing happened. 

"Barrier is about willpower," Maya explained. "I can't hit you through it because I _can't hit you through it_."

She swung at him, missing only because he stepped to the side. The sound she made was almost a scream, but he didn't move when she grabbed the arm again. 

"Show me yours," she said, holding his wrist so she could watch as lightning erupted across his arm and climbed up her own. 

"Okay, now just, that feeling from here instead," she said, poking the sigil she'd drawn. The sparks faded, but nothing else happened.

"Maya," he said, soft and sad. 

"No. Hold on, maybe if I-" she touched the rune, trying to channel through it to _show_ him, and was slammed away. 

"Ow."

"What did you do."

"I was trying to-"

"I know what you were trying to do, but what did you _actually_ do?"

She'd never heard him sound like that. Scared and angry and hopeful.

She rubbed the back of her head where she'd hit it on a cabinet while he stalked over and shoved his arm in her face. 

"Oh. Shit. Are you okay?"

The mark she'd drawn was different, red and angry where it had burned through him. It hummed like it was alive, calling to something that she didn't know how to answer when she touched it, and she thought of ice, of cold, of healing, until the swelling faded and the skin smoothed, leaving just her mark under his skin.

He lifted her then, dazed, and crowded her against the counter, his breathing heavy when he put his head on her shoulder. 

"Django?" she asked after a long moment. "I'm sorry, I didn't think that would happen."

She was shaking and her head hurt and the grip he had on her hip was uncomfortable. 

"Django-"

"We're done for today."

He moved away, his face pinched and every inch of him tense with restraint.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"It's fine, Maya. Just go."

"Can we just-"

"Later," he sighed and turned away. 

Maya made it home before she burst into bewildered tears, and not even Aadit could comfort her.

***

Aadit stood at her worktable for a long time and then came over to fix her with a bemused expression while she was piling supplies onto the assembly station.

"Don't do this again."

"Huh?"

Maya blinked up at him. She was jittery with caffeine and pumped to have another cool project and was, admittedly, probably not thinking clearly. 

"You're building a boat."

"Yeah?"

"Build it at the harbor."

"Oh."

Right. The Driller had at least been able to move on its own power. The paddle boat would be forever dry docked in her yard.

"Yeah, good thinking," she smiled, looking hopefully at him. He sighed.

"Where's the cart?"

***

"Who thought of building a harbor in the winter," Maya complained, sitting in Tody's house and huddled by the fire. The fisherman had been pretty vocal about his distaste for the project and had been watching in anger from a distance while she assembled the boat. Maya had been suspicious of him at first, seeing as the man _had_ burned down the warehouse in a fit of rage, but he'd left her to her work. She hadn't even been aware the Civil Corps had released him already. 

It was a good thing, though, because he'd dived in after her when she slipped on a patch of ice into the freezing water, performing the most shockingly heroic rescue she could ever imagine. 

That had been. Yeah. 

Her breath had gone right out of her lungs and she'd swallowed a mouthful of seawater, her limbs locked up and unable to find the surface. He'd grabbed her wrist and pulled her, sputtering, to the surface.

And to think, once she'd thought Slurpee slush to be cold. On the bright side, she was definitely awake after that. 

Tody stood with a sigh as the door clicked open. 

"That'll be Wuwa with the others."

The others ended up being Xu, Arlo, and Aadit. Her husband fixed her with the most despairing look she'd ever seen.

“Darling, I said _at_ the harbor, not _in_ the harbor.”

“You’re hilarious," she assured him. 

"Now, _what_ happened?"

"I slipped and he came in after me. No, Xu, I'm _fine._ Go fuss at Tody."

"Really?" Arlo asked and turned to the other redhead. Tody just shrugged, but Arlo clapped him on the shoulder, "that was very brave of you. I keep saying we need to put this one on a leash."

"Keep your fantasies to yourself," Maya groused.

"You're both incredibly lucky," Xu sighed.

"I really appreciate it," Aadit said, low and sincere and Maya could not deal with him. Tody seemed to feel the same way, looking uncomfortable in the face of the taller man's earnestness. 

"It was really no trouble. I'm used to the cold water."

"All the same, I'll make sure the Mayor hears about this," Arlo promised. "Come on you, can you walk?"

"I'll carry her," Aadit said. 

"Alright, Tody, we'll get out of your hair," the Captain said and turned to fix her with a look, "really, Maya. The man saves your life and then you make him deal with you afterward?"

"My company is it's own reward," she scoffed and let Aadit drag her to her feet before she waved him off. She could still walk, damn it.

"Hey, thanks man," she told Tody.

"Just warn me next time you come back. I'll keep my wetsuit handy."

***

"Hey now! There's my favorite builder!"

Maya froze like a guilty deer in the headlights as Mali approached to sling an arm around her shoulders. 

"Heard you took a dip in the harbor."

"Yes, it was incredibly refreshing. Ten out of ten judges agree, would try again."

Mali steered her away from the cafe where she was hoping to get another cup of coffee before it closed up for the evening. Django refused to serve it to her after noon and Aadit had hidden all of her supply somewhere in the house. 

"Listen, before the Mayor opens up Starlight Island for tourists I need to investigate the ruins out there, and I figured since we had so much fun last time you might want to tag along in case there are anymore broken doors."

Maya considered. It _had_ actually been fun last time, and watching Mali fight was pretty cool. Still…

"Yeah, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow morning."

"No worries."

"I'm expressly forbidden from doing anything fun if I haven't slept for more than two days," Maya explained, "apparently it's bad for my situational awareness or something."

"Well, good thing I caught you before you made it to the cafe."

"Oh my God, are you in on it too?" Maya cried.

"I might have had a stern lecture from that girl that works at The Round Table," Mali hedged, stepping away from the wild look Maya was giving her. 

"Everyone in this town is against me."

"I'll meet you at the dock bright and early. I promise to keep you from going overboard."

***

Starlight Island was lovely, for all that it seemed completely alien. Mali let her putter around for a while before they entered the ruin, piling little bits of coral onto the boat. Some of them were really pretty and she thought Ginger might like to have new materials to play with. 

She shrugged out of her winter coat and left it with the coral before she skipped over to Mali.

"You seem pretty chipper," the adventurer commented. 

"I'm excited. This is gonna be fun."

Aadit had laughed the night before when she approached him in bed with a book and had rewarded her that morning with a cup of coffee, so she was feeling pretty good about life.

"Okay, well the entrance is over there."

The inside of the ruin was not as exciting as Maya had been hoping, half flooded and full of madcrabs. Mali had been about ready to attack them before Maya grabbed her arm and pointed at them.

"You guys aren't gonna be any trouble, right?" she asked, unconcerned when they clacked at her. It took a stern look, but eventually they scuttled away. 

"Wow. Never seen that."

"If you think that's impressive, you should see Oaks in action."

"Is that the kid always hanging out with that giant bear?"

"Yeah, that's his dad. He talks to animals, it's pretty cool. I can introduce you guys, if you want?"

"Now that's something I've got to see," Mali agreed. "This looks like an office building of some sort. There are a bunch of these near Lucien, but I haven't run into them around here yet. Interesting."

They didn't encounter any trouble until they made it to the second floor, but Mali made quick work of the Sentidogs. Maya barely had her sword out before they were all dealt with. 

"I think the wiring for this door is fried. Can you get it open?"

Maya shrugged and stepped away from the wall she was leaning against.

"Probably. You wanna help me pry one of these bots open?"

Maya pulled her tools from her bag while Mali ripped the head off one, giving her easy access to its guts. 

"Wow, there's an engine in here," she said while she stripped out bits of wire.

"What were you expecting?"

"I dunno. I'm just surprised," Maya shrugged and wandered over to the door to unscrew the access panel. It was easy from there to spot the bad wiring and get the door open.

"I wonder if Ack is walking around with an engine in his chest. I haven't had to replace any power stones or anything for him, so I guess that would make sense, but the leg I built wasn't that fancy. Nothing like those things."

"Mr. Ack is unusual. The Age of Corruption produced some things beyond belief. Most of the living AI I've encountered were more advanced."

"He was a cook," Maya defended, "I don't think they needed him to do too much. Plus, I'm pretty sure part of his brain is fried or missing or something."

"That would explain it," Mali agreed, poking around the parts littering the room. She held up some sort of tablet for Maya's inspection, "you know what this is?"

"Not a clue," she said, turning it over in her hand.

"These are processor designs. Useless for us, but that means this was some sort of design facility and those are usually guarded by actual AI, not just those dog bots. We need to be careful. Stay close to me."

Maya ended up needing to fix an elevator so they could reach the next floor, which meant dragging one of the bots over and burning her fingers getting it hooked up in place of the gummed up motor. 

"Why is it always pigs?" Maya asked when they encountered two Marching Pig AIs guarding the next room. Mali laughed.

"You're pretty funny."

"You can't be the best workshop in town with just skill. It also takes stunning wit. Why do you think I passed Higgins so quickly?"

It was more difficult to manage two AIs at once, though thankfully they focused their attention on Mali as the bigger threat. Maya dug her sword into the panel she noticed on the back of one leg and managed to pry it off without getting stomped on. On her next pass she reached in, thankful she was shockproof, and ripped out something that looked like a control chip. The bot immediately sagged and went dark, and Mali was able to take care of the other without issue. 

"What the hell did you do?" Mali demanded when the fight was over.

"Look," she said, and handed the parts over. 

"Huh. Good thinking. You're lucky it didn't zap you, though."

Maya shrugged and followed when Mali proceeded to the next room.

"Oh damn."

"You're not setting off more laser traps, I hope."

"No, this is the Passcode Key!"

"The what now?"

"For that Locator Computer we found!"

"Cool?" Maya asked. Mali's eyes were lit up with wonder and fascination.

"All Source AI were incredibly powerful. In the Old World they handled practically _everything._ If there actually is one around Portia, that would be a _huge_ discovery. I thought they were just a rumor."

Maya shrugged.

"I guess we'll see."

***

"Good adventure?" Aadit asked when she got bored of the frenzy at the Research Center and wandered home.

"It was pretty fun. Having Mali around makes everything way safer."

She dropped her pack by the door and joined him in the kitchen. 

"No rats again?"

"Not even one," she agreed and hummed in appreciation when he held out a spoon for her to taste the soup he was cooking. He chuckled and leaned over to kiss her hair. 

"Mali was pretty excited, though. We found the… what did she call it? Passcode Key for that Locator Computer. The Research Center is up in arms about it."

Aadit stilled and then turned, something like anxiousness carved into his face.

"For the All Source? That's pretty dangerous to have around, isn't it?"

She reached out to pull him into a hug. Right, she shouldn't have mentioned it. Aadit was sensitive about dangerous technology, after growing up between countries fighting over it. 

"I'm sure it's fine. It's just an AI, and Mali will take care of it if it's dangerous," she promised. He sighed and reached to flip off the stove before he gathered her closer. 

"Hey, don't worry about it, okay? You want to take a shower before dinner?"

He chuckled and lifted her off her feet by way of answer.

***

If Maya had to take all of her builds and rank them by difficulty, anything requiring a diagram from Ack would be right up at the top. 

"What am I supposed to do with this," she whined, waving the cartoonish drawing in Aadit's face. It took a few tries for him to grab the paper from her fingers. 

"It will be fun, they said! Go talk to Ack! Ack will know! No, Aadit, no he doesn't know. Look at that thing."

It was gratifying, at least, to see her husband as confused as she was. 

"Darling."

"I know."

"But what is it?"

She sighed and flopped onto the floor. The meeting at the Mayor's office that morning had seemed productive, with the exception of Lee's _everything,_ but Maya was questioning if maybe the rest of them were as sleep deprived as she was. Why the adventurer had recommended she go to Ack for All Source inspiration, she'd never know. Maya had _told_ Mali that she didn't think the AI's brain worked right. 

"It's… meant to be an All Source model," she said, pausing to let him chuckle in disbelief, "Mali and Gale can't make a decision about the Locator Computer without more government input, but they won't just telegraph Atara because they're worried about it being intercepted or something. Mali is concerned if she leaves that that… 'masked thief' will take another swipe."

"So you're going to lure him out? Darling… I don't think this will work."

"Me either, but I have to build it now or Ack will be heartbroken. Come on, you wanna take a nap? I don't have the willpower to look at that paper anymore."

***

"You're certain this will hold?"

She shrugged and pulled on one of the bars.

"It's the same stuff I used for the Civil Corps."

Mali gestured for Arlo to hoist the cage to the ceiling above the 'All Source' from Ack's diagram. 

And to think, she’d thought the Lara model bad.

"I tested the new jail cell myself. That's good work. Good thinking too, to put plating behind the walls."

Maya grinned for the praise. She and Arlo had argued about the necessity of that feature until she goaded Sam into trying to break through the wall and pointed out that Ack could have easily done the same. 

"Do we just wait now, or-" she trailed off when she heard Sam's sneakers in a light run down the hall.

"Someone's coming."

Arlo finished tying the hoist and looked up. 

"One of ours?"

"I don't think so."

"Hide," Mali commanded, her attention fixed on the doorway. Maya crouched next to Arlo, not breathing, straining her hearing. There wasn't anything.

Arlo tensed beside her and gestured her further behind the crate. In the space above his shoulder she saw a masked figure approach the model. Her heart clenched. She recognized that man and he hadn't made _a single sound._

The cage, however, sounded like a crack of lightning echoing around the room when Arlo hit the release and it dropped to the floor. The Captain stood first, trusting her work, and even Mali approached the enclosure with confidence. They were stupid. They were all so stupid. 

"Not so sneaky now," Arlo commented, wiping his hands together. 

"Did you follow us here?" Mali demanded. 

"Arlo."

"Hold on Mali, this thing should hold a rhino."

" _Arlo,_ " Maya insisted, tugging at his sleeve, "that's the figure I saw. Remember? Oh Gods, I wasn't dreaming."

Arlo gave her a funny look while she took a few steps away from the cage, her heart going crazy. She bumped into Sam who grabbed her shoulders and squeezed.

"It's pretty clever of you, to set a trap."

"Thanks," Arlo said, turning his attention back.

The man chuckled and spun to blast the head off of the model. 

"You forgot one thing," he said. The modulator distorting his voice was creepy, like it was somehow taking the words and dragging the sound out. Too deep. Maya shivered. 

"We're dealing with a Knight, people!" Mali realized. 

"My lucky day. I've always wanted to fight a Knight."

Maya, through her nerves, thought that was crap. She _had_ fought a Knight, kind of, and it wasn't something she was interested in experiencing when the Knight in question wasn't Django and wanted to actually kill her.

The Knight pulled out his sword and sliced through the bars like she hadn't made it of steel and hardened aluminum and had maybe just gone ahead and sculpted butter instead. 

Mali attacked first, leaping forward while the rest of them rolled out of the way, and Maya was glad to have the adventurer on their side. 

It wasn't, however, enough.

The Knight flung Sam across the room and Maya reacted before she thought, rolling in front of the other woman and throwing up her hand just as the Knight brought his relic sword down to slam against the floor. Whatever the attack was, the power output was incredible. It hit her barrier and split around them, so jarring it shook her bones and made her teeth hurt. Mali had taken a hit from it and just grunted, but she doubted whether she or Sam would have survived. 

"Why don't you pick on someone still standing," she said, all false bravado as she climbed to her feet. 

The Knight tilted his head and seemed to consider her, shrugged off an attack from Mali, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 

"Thanks," Sam grunted when she helped ease her standing. The other woman leaned heavy on her shoulder while she cradled her side. 

Maya was shaking a little herself. She'd seen Mali in action and thought it incredible. That Knight was on a whole different level. 

"Holy shit," she breathed when she realized what she'd done. 

"Save the panic attack for later," Sam suggested, jerking her head to the other people in the room. Mali was looking at her, thoughtful. Arlo, though, looked so angry that Maya winced. 

She looked away to the remains of her trap.

"My poor model," she mourned.

***

Aadit was in Peach Plaza when they trooped back into town. She'd been pretty good about holding herself together until that point, but the concerned look he fixed her with had her stumbling toward him in a growing haze. When she collapsed to her knees, heaving, trying to get air into her lungs that _just wasn't there_ , he curled around her on the freezing ground and let her hide her face pressed against his sweater. The whole world devolved to the mantra of, _'breathe, darling. In. Hold it. Out. Good. With me.'_

"Do you need her for anything _else?"_ she heard him ask, the words filtering into her brain and not processing until seconds later. Oh _shit_ , he sounded angry. When Arlo said, "yes," the hand he had cradling her head stayed gentle, but the arm around her shoulders tightened. 

"No," Mali disagreed, "it can wait until tomorrow. Take her home."

Sam said something low in her ear that she didn't catch and then spoke to her husband in the same soft, sad tone. When he lifted her, she caught sight of the crowd that had gathered for just a moment before Aadit pressed her head back to his chest. 

"Are you hurt?"

"No," she told him, voice thin and muffled. She refused to let him go when he tried to set her on their couch. He ended up crouched between her legs while she clutched at his sweater.

"Thank God for that. What _happened?"_

"There was a Knight. Or I guess a Rogue Knight," she paused and Aadit hissed. "I've seen Mali fight. This was something else. I can't tell you the _power."_

"Sam said you saved her life."

"I thought we were dead. I thought we were _so_ dead."

"What did you do?"

Maya sighed and threw herself back against the sofa cushions. 

"You know that sigil I have on my wrist?"

"Yeah?"

"That's uh. Maybe I should just show you," Maya said and stood, "try and hit me."

"I'm not going to hit you."

"No, you're not. Just try."

The cushion he threw at her was unexpected, but served the same purpose when she deflected it. He sucked in a long breath and sat on the couch to regard her.

"How?"

"I told you some of those runes were real."

"I didn't know you meant _that_ real."

"Yeah. Are you mad?"

For a long time he was quiet and she twisted her hands together, fidgeting under his scrutiny.

"No darling," he said, "it's incredible."

***

Sonia ran crying into Maya’s arms almost as soon as she and Aadit walked into The Round Table for lunch before her debrief with Mali.

“Maya,” she cried, “they took Django in for questioning.”

“What the fuck?”

“Mali came and put him in handcuffs!”

"Wait, do they think he's the Rogue Knight?"

“ _What the fuck?_ ”

“That was like an hour ago and he hasn’t come back yet!”

Maya forced herself to take a deep breath, because her blood pressure was dangerously high and it felt like she has suddenly wearing blinders. She turned to Aadit and pressed Sonia into his arms.

“Okay, I love you, but I have to go deal with this,” she told him, “Sonia, depending on how long it takes me to yell at Mali, Django will be back soon.”

Sonia sniffed and buried her face in Aadit’s sweater. She met his eyes and he nodded.

“Good luck.”

She ran. She ran the whole way from restaurant up to the Civil Corps building. What were they thinking? What the fuck were they thinking.

The doors flew open in front of her and if she hadn’t been so angry it would have scared her.

“What the hell is going on?” she demanded. Her eyes found Django immediately. At least they hadn’t put him in the cell, but he was still in handcuffs. She was glaring when she stomped over and grabbed the chain, planning to demand the key, but as soon as she touched the metal the cuffs fell away.

She blinked at them for a moment, loose in her hand, and then rounded on Mali.

“What the hell are you thinking?”

“Maya,” Arlo cautioned.

“No, Arlo, it’s ridiculous. Django? Are you kidding me? Django is a good man. This is like me accusing you or - or Aadit! You think just because we fought a Knight and Django is a Knight that that means the same thing?”

“It would have been irresponsible -”

“It _is_ irresponsible!” she screamed. 

“Listen, I know you two are close,” Mali said and climbed to her feet, "but we can't just ignore a potential lead."

"Then treat him like a resource, not a suspect!"

"It doesn't work like that."

Maya stood her ground and shook her head. She didn't want to fight Mali, but she absolutely would. She could already feel something twisting inside of her. It felt like her organs were vibrating, like they were trying to slide over each other, and she adjusted her stance just as the ground gave a single warning tremble.

"Calm down, baby girl."

Django put a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I-"

"Calm down," he said, and the room spun when he pulled her into his arms, "reign it in."

"Oh."

She breathed, clenched and released her fist several times letting the handcuffs clatter to the floor, trying to let go of the energy bubbling under her skin, trying to call back what she'd almost started. The ground didn't want to move, anyway.

"We're alright," Django whispered into her hair, "they're just doing their job."

"But it isn't you," she protested.

"They don't know that. _You_ don't know that."

She pushed away as far as he'd let her go, white sparks dancing over her hands and skittering across his chest, and very carefully grabbed his arm just under his elbow. 

"I _know._ "

The Rogue Knight's sleeves hadn't covered the whole of his arms, and Maya was ashamed to admit that she'd even looked. It should have been obvious anyway, she had an awareness of the other man that she couldn't explain and given the way Django felt about using relics it was ridiculous that she'd even doubted, but her heart had sagged in relief for the lack of sigils on the other Knight's arm. 

"Baby girl," he sighed.

"Sonia was _crying."_

"I think maybe we need to have a longer talk than I anticipated," Mali said. She hadn't moved from where she was standing, but Maya could see the difference in how relaxed her posture was then versus a few moments before. 

Django sighed again and he seemed older in that moment than she'd ever seen him.

"Will Sonia be okay?" he asked. 

"I left her will Aadit. He's probably read her to sleep by now, I'm sure she's fine." 

He pushed her onto the couch beside Arlo, who immediately stilled her with an arm over her shoulders when Django settled beside her and Mali took the armchair. She slumped against the Captain, suddenly drained and so so tired. He jostled her. 

"Hey, stay awake. Sam, can you make some coffee?"

"I got it," the blonde woman agreed.

"What am I supposed to do with this?" Mali asked. "Atara sent me here to investigate and destroy any potential threats."

"She isn't dangerous."

" _Really_ , Arlo? Could you have talked her down from that? Could you even have _touched_ her?"

Maya winced and looked away, ashamed, when Mali fixed her sight on her. 

"Let me see them."

"Huh?"

"The sigils," Mali demanded. Maya huffed but unfastened her cuff and leaned forward to offer her wrist to the other woman.

"And the others?"

"I only have one."

Mali fixed her with a long look, even when Sam came back with a tray of mugs for everyone. 

"That's impossible."

"She does," the blonde defended. Arlo spun to look at her.

"You _knew?_ "

Maya covered her face and wished the ground would swallow her. Was teleportation a thing? She'd pay big gol to be anywhere else at that moment. 

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "it's not Sam's fault. I'll tell you everything."

Arlo's hand squeezed her shoulder and she felt the tension go out of him. She realized she was crying, big frustrated and embarrassed tears leaking down her face. 

"And what about _you,"_ Mali demanded. Django shifted beside her and Maya turned to watch because even as upset and guilty as she felt, the other man's sigil was a sight to behold. He clenched one fist and opened it with his hand full of lightning. She could feel the power rolling off of him in a way she never had before. 

"The Storm Knight," Mali leaned back and laughed, "of course. Of course you are."

"What?"

"You didn't know? He's a legend."

" _What?_ "

Django huffed and offered her his hand, and she covered the lightning there just to watch it crawl up her own arm. 

"That makes me feel better about things," Mali said eventually. "I'm guessing you all already know this needs to stay quiet. I'm taking the Passcode Key back with me to Atara tomorrow. The Council will be in touch with your Mayor on how we're going to proceed."

"Mali," Maya whispered, pleading.

"I won't tell them," the older woman promised. "It's dangerous enough if just we know. _Are_ we the only ones who know?"

"Remington," she admitted, "and my husband."

Django squeezed her hand. Mali sighed.

"Okay. I'm going to go talk to Gale, and make arrangements for travel."

There was silence in the Civil Corps HQ for a long time after she stormed out. 

"But _is_ teleportation a thing?" Maya asked, picking up the old thread of a stray thought. Arlo laughed and cuffed the back of her head, and Sam seemed relieved for the tension to be broken. Only Django said nothing, still gripping her hand. 

***

"Django!" Sonia yelled as soon as they walked back in the door. The way she ran to her boss, it was amazing they both didn't fall over. 

"Everything's okay," he assured her. Aadit ambled over and put an arm around her shoulders.

"Got it sorted out?"

"More or less," she shrugged. 

"Girl's got a deathwish, standing up to Mali like that."

Maya opened her mouth to protest, but Django cut her off with a shake of his head. She couldn't quite parse the expression on his face.

"Thank you. That was brave and foolish. I can't think of anyone else who would have done that."

"Sonia would have gotten around to it."

The other woman laughed, still a little wet sounding, and practically tore her out of Aadit's arms to hug her. 

"I love you so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, suspiciously close to tears again. "I was so _scared."_

"Of course. You know I hate it when people are wrong," Maya joked, clinging to her friend. Sonia pulled away to dab at her face.

"And thank _you_ ,"she said to Aadit. "Oh my God Maya, I totally get why you want him around when you're upset. He offered to _read_ to me."

Maya laughed and pointed a finger at Django.

"What did I say!"

"So are they still looking?" Sonia asked. Maya shook her head and took a seat at the bar. 

"No, they don't have any more leads. Mali is leaving for Atara tomorrow and she's just gonna take the damn passcode with her. It'll be safer if it's not here."

"One less thing to worry about," Aadit said with a sigh of relief. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm done holding onto this. I'm gonna post chapter 6 on Friday (which is really short, don't get excited) and then 7 on Sunday. That will give me enough time to finish tweaking it. 
> 
> Love you guys! Thank you so much for reading!


	6. ???, Year ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _How had they gotten in? The wards. The wards had been silent all day. It wasn’t possible._

_She sighed and leaned her head against the door, worn down and emotionally exhausted. Her father was at least gone, left earlier in the day without anymore circumstance than a note left in her mailbox that she had set on fire with a thought, unopened._

_There was a soft_ fwick _from behind her, followed by a stinging in her neck. Maya spun around and spotted a figure seated on her couch, her legs going to jelly underneath her. She plucked a dart from her skin with fingers that had gone numb._

_"Clear,” the Rogue Knight announced. Everglade stormed out of her bedroom and fixed her with a dispassionate look._

_“She gave Ten access. You read the report. We should be breaking my men out of prison, not wasting time on_ this _,” she hissed._

_How had they gotten in? The wards. The wards had been silent all day. It wasn’t possible._

_“You want to break into an Alliance prison be my guest, but having her_ will _be more useful. Don’t take it so personally, Everglade.”_

_“What, like it isn’t for you?”_

_He chuckled and rose, coming to collect her from the floor. She glared, watching with vision going dark and twisty, trying to kick away with legs that didn’t work._

_"You know how I hate to leave my things behind. Besides, she had my sword."_

_***_

_“Strap her in.”_

_Maya struggled against the hold he had her in, heart feeling weak and sluggish when they fixed her head still and attached something to her temples._

_“You’re sure this is safe?” a distorted voice asked. Maya flinched, the Rogue Knight’s gloved hand was tangled in her hair, massaging her scalp._

_“The shock will just scramble her memories a little bit. She won’t even remember.”_

_“But you’re certain it’s_ safe _?”_

_“Yes,” the other voice hissed. “You’re the one who insisted we get her off of those drugs. That cocktail is absolutely lethal, you_ know _that. If we do this, we can keep her on a half-dose and that will be_ much safer _.”_

_He cradled her head for another moment, then pulled away._

_“Do it.”_

_***_

She woke in a bed. A real bed, with a pillow and a blanket and it was the most luxurious thing she'd ever felt. She stretched out her limbs and made content little noises at the feel of the sheets, ended up with her face pressed into a pillow that smelled like home. 

She jerked upright. 

"Good morning," Aadit greeted from the other side of the room, lounging in a cushioned chair with a book in his hand. The world felt hazy. Something about the color of his sweater scratched at her head like she was forgetting something. Darker blue than he normally wore, the khaki pants pressed and smooth over his legs. Neither of them were _that_ meticulous with their laundry. Maya found herself floating to him, curled into his lap when he set the book aside and opened his arms in invitation.

"You should still be in bed. You aren't well yet."

"I had the worst dream," she complained. He smoothed one hand through her hair and kissed the top of her head.

"Forget about that, darling. Would it help for me to come lie down with you?"

She hummed in agreement and let him lead her back to the bed. There was a heavy feeling dragging down her consciousness and she gave into it, pressed against his side.


	7. Spring, Year 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All Source keys? No problem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! My bf got mad that I told you he just learned about em dashes. He would like me to correct by saying, "he just learned how to properly use" em dashes. 
> 
> These mistakes are mine.

Maya was still blinking herself awake when the sound of a plane went over the house. 

"Is that Mali already?" Aadit asked, seated across from her. She shook her head.

"Don't think so," she yawned, "that's a different kind of plane."

"How can you tell?"

"I dunno. It sounded bigger? Too many propellers," she shrugged and let her head fall onto the table. 

"Do you think that means trouble?"

"Eh. If people start screaming I'll go check it out, but it's probably just more people from Atara, and I am so over that whole mess."

Aadit chuckled and stood to leave for work. She tilted her head so he could press a kiss to her cheek.

"Probably a good choice, darling. Don't get into too much trouble today."

"I might be offended if I weren't so tired. Hey, before you go, do you mind if I have Albert build me a factory?"

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"Why?"

"I dunno, because it sounds cool and he said he'd give me a good deal? It'll get some of the machines out of the yard," she offered. He hated the clutter and it made her feel a little guilty that the workshop was overrun with her things. Aadit had taken to the little planter box that she'd built for Emily ages ago and she kind of thought he might like more space for a little garden.

"When you put it like that."

***

A few days later when Aadit left for his morning walk, she was still awake and blinked guiltily at him. She didn't know where the time had gone. One minute he was telling her to come to bed soon, which she was going to do after she finished moving _just one more machine_ into the shiny new factory, and then the next he was standing in the doorway giving her a disappointed look and the sun was coming up.

"Darling."

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I promise I won't do anything fun today," she told him, "well, depending on what Sam wants. What's up, lady?"

"Morning, guys."

"She hasn't slept," Aadit warned.

"Listen, why are you tattling on me. Go away. I need to talk to Sam about lady things. You wouldn't be interested."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Like, uh… frilly underwear?"

"I'm very interested in that conversation," he assured her. Sam let out a startled laugh while Maya smacked him on the arm. 

"Goober," she accused, "nothing fun, okay? Go on. I love you."

"Be good," he whispered into her hair when he leaned over to kiss the top of her head. 

Maya rolled her eyes and waited until he made it out the gate before hopping the fence and walking over to pet Teddy. 

"What's up?"

"The Mayor wants you for a meeting this morning. The Alliance Council made a decision about the All Source and our Rogue Knight."

"Okay. Why do I need to be there?"

"We always seem to need builders, don't we? I have to go round up Higgins, too."

"How did you guys get anything done when it was just him? Every time Gale calls a meeting it's just _so much work."_

"Things were quieter before you arrived," Sam sighed. 

"Hey!"

"I can think of at least one major incident that you were directly responsible for."

"Hey!" Maya repeated, glaring up at the blonde. "If you are talking about the Rat King, I want you to know that you still owe me for therapy and that I have perfected the fine art of setting things on fire."

"You wouldn't hurt Teddy," Sam scoffed. "Go to the meeting."

"Fine."

Maya stamped her foot and went into the house to change, but the effect was ruined because Sam was laughing at her.

***

It was absolutely beyond belief that Higgins beat her to the meeting. 

Sure, she had gotten distracted by a stray llama near her workshop, and yes she had stopped to talk to Django, but hadn't Sam come to find her first?

"About time," Higgins muttered under his breath when she walked through the door. She glared at him.

"Glad you could join us," a pale haired woman told her, and Maya did not glare at her because she seemed… intense. 

"Good, good, now that everyone is here we can start. First, let me introduce you all to Ursula. She's a Captain in the Council Guard and has been sent -"

"Yes, yes, let me just get to the point," the woman, Ursula, said, interrupting Gale's speech. Maya was just as guilty as anyone for letting her mind wander when the Mayor started to ramble, but that seemed a little rude. 

"After hearing Mali's report, the Council has decided that this All Source is too valuable a resource to not be used against adversaries like Duvos."

"They want to use it as a weapon?" Merlin questioned.

"That's not for me to say. My mission is to secure it and bring it back to Atara for study. I've brought the Passcode Key back with me, and we will need you researchers to aid us in locating the AI."

"Why didn't Mali come herself?" Arlo asked.

"She's still being debriefed. I'm sure the Council will send her to support us when she's done, especially with this Rogue Knight running loose. To that end, Arlo, I'd like you to take Ryder and establish a plan to locate and eliminate the threat."

"Sure," he shrugged.

"Why am _I_ here?" Higgins asked, annoyed. Maya almost felt for the man when Ursula fixed him with a penetrating look. 

"We might run into situations where we need a builder on hand, and it's faster if we brief you on the situation now. I assumed a man of your _reputation_ would like to be kept in the know."

Higgins scoffed, but for once didn't push the issue. 

"If there are no more questions, I think we can call this meeting adjourned." 

***

"How did your _girl talk_ go?"

"I met one of the people the Alliance sent?"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. She was uh, pretty scary."

Aadit laughed and came over to where she was slumped over the desk to massage her shoulders. 

"I feel better with more government involvement," he admitted, working at a knot in her neck, "less chance of this All Source getting out of hand."

"I guess."

***

"Ah, builder, there you are," Ursula said, looking up from where she had both Merlin _and_ Petra fussing over the Locator Computer.

"Oh. Um, yes. Here I am?"

"You didn't get my letter?"

"If Aadit doesn't check the mail then I don't get the mail."

"That's your…?"

"Husband."

"Really now?" 

Maya didn't really understand the disbelieving look the Alliance Captain was giving her and was honestly a little offended. The woman had barely been in town for a week, and Aadit hadn't mentioned bumping into her. Sure, she hadn't made the greatest impression at their first meeting, but the other woman couldn't possibly have such a low opinion of her already, could she?

Maya told herself not to fidget under the scrutiny, but found herself doing it anyway.

"What did you need?"

"We've deciphered three locations that need to be activated before the All Source can be accessed. The trouble is that two of them are in the Marsh to the north and I'm told those are hard to get to. That's priority number one. There are two separate paths we need to build, and since you got here first I'll let you take your pick."

"Oh," Maya blinked, "okay. Uh, which one would be more fun?"

"I suppose the western route."

"Oh! Are you talking about that big drawbridge in the Tree Farm? I've been meaning to take a look at that. Yeah, yeah, give me that one."

"Good for you, taking the most difficult path. I've already had the diagrams put together. Be quick about it. We don't know when the Rogue Knight will make another appearance."

"Uh huh, yup, sure thing," Maya agreed absently, looking over the papers the other woman handed her. 

It wasn't until she wandered out of the Research Center that she realized she hadn't talked to Petra, but she wasn't about to turn around. 

***

She was at the harbor arguing with a merchant when Tody wandered by. 

"Hey, Tody, wait a sec," she called and turned back to the trader. "Gods, _fine,_ just take the damn silicon chipsets already." 

She huffed and turned away with the AI chipset she needed in her hands. The ones she'd been able to find in the ruins just weren't powerful enough for the control unit to power the bridge to the marsh, but she still felt like she'd been conned a little. 

Tody was watching her, leaned against a dock pillar.

"Can you believe that guy?" she demanded. 

"He seems nice to me. Maybe it's just you?"

"I want you to know that I haven't slept in three days and I might bite you for implying that I am anything less than charming."

"What did you need?" he sighed. 

"What did I..? Oh! Yeah, so I caught this weird fish the other day, and Qiwa just could not tell me what it was. Here, I took a picture," she explained, pulling her camera out of her bag, "it was like a banner fish, but like a banner fish that someone had smeared clown makeup on. I put it in a fish display, because I had no idea what it was. I named it Rumpelstiltskin." 

"Oh my God," he exclaimed, pulling the camera from her hands to examine the image. 

"What?"

"That's a king fish!"

"A what fish?"

"That's… it's… they are incredibly rare variations. I'm impressed. Those are tough to pull out of the water."

"Really?"

"You can breed them if you're careful."

Maya frowned at the redheaded man and looked down at the ridiculous fish on the screen of her camera. 

"Do you want it?"

" _What?"_

"I would probably kill it in a week or something."

"You could sell it to Django and make a lot of money."

"Yeah, but like, I don't want to think about eating anything that looks like that," she protested, waving the camera in his face. 

"What do you want for it?"

"The satisfaction of knowing that someone competent is caring for this fish?"

"No, but-"

"Look man. Just come by my fucking house and get the fucking fish, okay?"

Tody held up his hands and nodded, and Maya left feeling like she'd done Rumpelstiltskin a favor.

***

"Do you ever wonder how the mail gets delivered?"

"Um, no?"

"It's just there in the morning, but no one has ever seen the mail-person. If it even _is_ a person."

"No, Mei, I totally have. I see him all the time. His name is Tom."

"How mysterious," the redhead mused, tapping her chin while she wandered away. 

"Right."

For half a second she considered warning Erwa, but decided against it. Aadit had admitted that he enjoyed reading the paper specifically _for_ Mei's articles, because they made him laugh. 

Maya refused. Random encounters with the other woman were enough to make her despair for humanity. She didn't need to know about whatever "news" Mei felt worthy of delivering.

She shrugged and went to go find Ursula.

***

"Why don't you guys recruit builders? You have no idea how often I hear about doors that won't open. Two birds, one stone."

In fact, she heard about inoperable doors so frequently that she'd been able to predict what Ursula wanted when Maya approached her early that morning to report the completed path to her side of the Marsh. 

"Most builders won't ruin dive," Ten pointed out. 

"No, but I'm saying you cross train them. I can't believe this isn't a thing. Think about how much time you could save."

"Like you?"

"I'm not adventurous. I learned how to fight because I had a really bad experience in a ruin, once."

"One bad experience usually turns people off."

"Okay, so train adventurers how to install a freaking power stone. It's not _hard._ Is this the door that won't open?"

"Yeah," Ten admitted, "we hit it with all the blast packs we could carry and just nothing. There's a power room over here that might be useful?"

They proceeded down the hall into the room in question.

"I don't know," Maya said, poking around the terminals, "these generators all seem to be in order."

"What about this thing? It looks bonked."

Maya climbed on top of the console he was talking about and pulled the busted panel off to peer inside.

"Oh," she said, prying the fried bit out of the wall with her bare hand, "yeah, this is a bad transformer."

"Can you fix it?"

"Uh, I'll have to go talk to Petra. This is kind of beyond me."

***

Petra didn't believe her explanation that it was a transformer so she rolled her eyes and went home to wait for the Research Center to come to their senses.

***

Maya stormed into the house and pouted at Aadit.

"I hate the factory."

He sighed and put down the book he was reading.

"Why?"

"I don't know! It's too efficient! There isn't anything for me to _do,"_ she complained.

"Darling, that's a good thing. You work too hard."

"But now I feel like I'm not working at all."

"Well, there _are_ other ways to occupy your time," he suggested, a little grin on his face. Maya regarded him for a moment and sauntered over with an extra sway to her hips.

"Really? Do tell."

***

_Visual Identification: Confirmed_

_Welcome back: Maya_

She and Ten both paused in mid-step. Maya peered uncomfortably around the big room. 

"Um, thank you?"

_It appears you are with an unauthorized entity. Please step back and I will remove the threat._

"No, no, no! This is Ten. He's a member of the Council Guard. He's not a threat," she explained, clutching at the shorter man's shoulder.

_No record exists for: Council Guard_

_Would you like to add him as a member of your security team?_

That sounded… weird. When she had approached Ten with the replacement transformer that afternoon, this was not the sort of thing she imagined would happen. Actually, she'd been tensing up for a big fight, because that's the way that her life went. New ruin. Big fight. 

"Uh, sure. Yes. That would be great."

_Access: Granted_

_Visual reference added to database._

_Welcome back: Ten_

"Thanks," he said slowly. He was looked to Maya like he thought she could explain, but she was just as clueless as he was.

_Is there anything I can assist you with today?_

"We're looking for the All Source?"

_Of course. She will be pleased to see you again. I have one of the keys here. Do you need assistance locating the others?_

"No, we're good. Um, thank you."

_You're welcome: Maya_

***

They stumbled out of the ruin no worse for wear. Well, Maya stumbled, head a thousand miles away and so spaced out Ten had to keep steering her away from things like door frames.

"That was weird, right?" she asked, blinking in the sunlight. 

The grip he had on her arm was just a touch to tight.

"That would be an understatement. We have to tell the Captain."

***

"- and just in the room where there should have been a boss fight, the computer starts talking to her."

"Is that right?" Ursula asked with a raised eyebrow. She was swinging her cane as she thought and honestly that made Maya a little nervous, especially when she became the focus of the pale haired woman's attention. It made her feel like she needed to hide behind Arlo, or something. 

"Yeah, it uh… yeah."

"Only you, Maya," Arlo said with a sigh.

"And you've never been in that ruin before?"

"No. Never," she denied and shook her head for further confirmation. 

"Interesting. I'll send someone to collect you in a few days when we're ready to move on the second location." 

Maya's heart sank. 

"You want to see if it happens again," she realized. 

"I do. Ten, make sure a full report gets back to Atara. Mr. Arlo, I have some security measures I'd like to discuss with you."

Maya assumed she was dismissed, and fled. 

***

"It was the _weirdest_ thing, Aadit."

She was pacing, angry strides across the room and back while her husband watched from the couch. 

"Darling, come sit down."

"I _can't_ . I'm too freaked out about it. It _knew my name_. How could that even-"

She stilled when his arms wrapped around her and she turned to mash her face into his chest.

"What the hell is going on? Why does this weird shit keep _happening_?"

"Calm down. Just breathe."

"Do you think it has to do with mom?"

"I don't see how it could."

He retook his seat and pulled her into his lap, dragging the blanket from the back of the sofa to drape over both of them. She rubbed her face on his shoulder.

"No, but-" 

She made a strangled sound of frustration and turned in his lap to brace her hands on his shoulders. 

"I've never told anyone this."

"Okay?"

" _Anyone."_

"Darling, you're worrying me."

"You know that Pa isn't my real dad, right?" she waited for him to nod in confirmation, "well, technically mom wasn't either."

"I didn't know that."

"Yeah, well. So. Oh man, I have no idea how to say this. Um, my mom was a really big adventurer, right? She was good. Really good. She used to go into unexplored ruins _by herself_ all the time. So, she was pretty far out into the Peripheries one time, in this ruin no one had ever seen before, and she just… found me."

Aadit's face twisted in confusion. 

"What do you mean, she _found_ you?"

"She found me. I don't know, I don't remember it at all, but I was about a year old and walking around naked in this facility and she couldn't just _leave_ me."

"That's-"

"I know."

"How could you-"

"I _know._ Are you mad?"

He sighed and pulled her back against him, both arms wrapped around to keep her close. Maya always felt so safe, when he held her like that, like the world would have to go through him to get to her and it just couldn't. 

"No, darling, I'm not."

"Don't tell anyone, okay?"

"No," he agreed, "I won't."

***

"Hey Remi."

"Hello Maya. Staying out of trouble?"

"Oh, you know me," she sighed, glaring at the pinecocks swooping dangerously overhead. "I swear to God, if you assholes poop on me I will set you on fire and eat bird for dinner!"

The large birds made another pass before the flew further out over the collapsed portion of the wasteland. 

"I wish they listened to me like that," Remington commented wearily. 

"Hey, you okay? You look pretty tired," she asked, grabbing at Arrow's bridle to hold the horse still. 

"We're all a little tired, between regular patrols and the work the Guard Captain has us doing."

"You guys really need more members in the Corps."

"Are you volunteering?"

"Me? No, that's just asking for trouble. If I joined the Civil Corps you know that we'd be attacked by whales or a meteor would fall on the town or something."

"It was quieter before you arrived."

"You know, I've been hearing that."

"Portia is small enough that three members in the Civil Corps used to be more than enough."

"Yeah, but now you guys have the Eufaula Desert, Bassanio Heights, the Western Plateau, _and_ the Marsh to contend with. Can't you import some new members or something."

"Not many folks willing to live in a frontier town."

"Hmm. What about Oaks?"

"Oaks?"

"Yeah, he's pretty scrappy. I mean, you guys would have to find time to train him, but he does that trick with the animals way better than I do and _he_ can actually understand them. Think about it. Wouldn't it be so cool to have a few hundred extra set of eyes to tell you when trouble is going down? Oh man. We could get Carol to make the panbats little Corps vests or something. _Oh man,_ that would be the best."

"When was the last time you slept?"

"Last night. Why is everyone always asking me that?"

"You're usually only this incoherent from lack of sleep."

Maya slapped his leg.

"Listen, it's a good idea. You should talk to him."

Remington sighed.

"I'll take it to Arlo."

"Good. Cool. Have a good patrol. I have to get these bamboo papaya home so that I can bully Aadit into making dinner."

***

Maya rolled over and shoved at Aadit to wake him up.

"Go see what Remington wants," she mumbled, face half buried in her pillow.

"No one knocked," he protested. 

"Just go," she whined. The wards had nudged her awake, but she was too tired to do anything about them.

He sighed and slipped out of bed, pulling a shirt over his head before leaving the room. She was half asleep again them she heard them come back into the house. 

"You have a visitor."

"Five more minutes."

"Nope. You made me get outta bed, now I'm making you get out of bed."

He came over and ripped the blanket from her fingers and dragged her till she was sitting. 

"You're a _monster,"_ she accused him. 

"Of course, darling. Come on."

Maya slapped her face to wake up and pulled the blanket from his hands to drag into the living room with her.

"Yikes. Okay, so don't take this the wrong way but have _you_ slept?" she asked Remington, who was sagging a little in the chair.

"Ursula is anxious to get rolling with the second key location."

"Are you up for that?"

"Arlo promised me the rest of the day off when we're done."

Maya eyed him. Remington was about as stoic as they came, but he was also older and not as prone to the fits of insomnia she suffered from. If it came down to it she'd still trust him in a fight, but the Council Guards really needed to back off if the Civil Corps was going to be of any use for much longer. 

"Let me change, I guess. Aadit, will you make him some coffee? I'll go into the bedroom and pretend I don't know you hid it on that shelf I can't reach," she promised, dragging the blanket back to the room. 

"I guess that was pretty obvious," she heard him lament.

***

By the time they made it into the Marsh, Remington was looking a little more awake thanks to two cups of a strong brew. 

"Ah, good. You're finally here," Ursula stated, "there are two paths inside and we aren't sure which will lead us to the key. We're going to split into two teams, with a builder apiece. Mr. Arlo, you and Maya will accompany me. Tens will take Sam and Higgins. Remington and Ryder will stay behind to guard the entrance in case the Rogue Knight shows up."

Maya nodded, feeling a little better with the idea of Remington getting a break. It _would_ be more dangerous for _them_ if the Knight showed up, but she didn't think he would. If he was still lurking around, it was more likely he'd make his move once they had access to the AI.

***

Maya liked adventuring with Arlo. He was funny; somehow a perfect mix of snarky and cranky and warm. He let her fight her own battles - didn't coddle her if she bit off more than she could chew.

One day she wanted to take the Corps to a ruin and see how she fared without a weapon. She didn't tire as easily as she used to, it didn't take just _one big thing_ to knock her out anymore. It would be fun to test outside of the confines of Django's sparse main floor, outside of an emergency, surrounded by people to back her up if she failed.

"Say, Captain, I have some friends in the Council Guard. Have you ever met a man called Stanza?"

Maya groaned and thumped him on the arm.

"Maybe not the best time?"

"No idle chatter."

Being in the ruin with Ursula was different. The atmosphere more subdued. She was all business and no pleasure. It wasn't fun.

"Right. Okay, mission first."

***

_Warning: Unable to establish visual identification due to camera failure. Identify yourself of face elimination._

The floor in the middle of the room opened up, and a huge flower looking machine spun out of the hole. Alice had shown her pictures once, of huge flowers that could eat people and spat acid, and as the AI spun to face them on its giant stalk she kind of recognized the same look.

Ursula fixed Maya with a pointed look. 

"Uh, my name is Maya?"

_Querying…_

_Voice match: Confirmed_

_Welcome back: Maya_

"Yeah, hey, could you put that thing away?"

_Deactivating security measures._

Maya sighed in relief when the AI sunk back into the floor and the panels closed again.

"Thank you. Um, we're looking for the All Source?"

_The key is located on the console._

"Cool, cool."

"Can you tell us how you know Ms. Maya?" Ursula asked. 

_Unable to process request from unauthorized user._

"How do you know who I am?"

_Checking…_

_File origination: Site AT-BW-1, Weapons Research Facility_

Ursula made a strangled noise of recognition, but just raised an eyebrow and motioned for her to carry on when Maya whirled to look at her.

"That's... Creepy. Um, can you tell me what's in the file?"

_Unable to process request due to data corruption. Please contact your System Administrator._

"Would the All Source know?" Arlo asked and she dutifully repeated.

_Likelihood of All Source being able to process request: High_

_Warning: Final key location is experiencing fatal levels of toxic gas. Proceed with caution._

"Um, yep. Will do. Thanks for your help."

_You're welcome: Maya_

Arlo ambled over while Ursula went to turn the key on and let her lean against him. She was shaking. 

"Man, sometimes I can't believe the nasty looking machines the ancients came up with."

"I think they based a lot of them on actually creatures?" Maya suggested. "Pigs, dogs. Flowers."

Arlo tilted his head in consideration and put an arm around her shoulders for a moment, only pulling away when a door on the other side of the room opened.

"Drat! I told you we should have been quicker!" Higgins exclaimed. Maya broke down in hysterical laughter. Yeah, sure, she'd have given good gol to see _Higgins_ face down the AI in the floor. 

"Chill out, grumpy dude," Ten admonished.

"The situation is under control. Only one more key to go," Ursula declared, twirling her cane while she stepped away from the console. 

"Say, you have a very peculiar fighting style. Where did you learn that technique?" Arlo asked.

"Lucien."

To Maya that made sense. She knew there was a lot of fighting in that area. Arlo, however, seemed skeptical.

"Let's go, people."

***

"I think that was even weirder than the first time, and I was at least expecting it."

"Indeed. Hmm," Ursula fixed her with a critical look. "I'll go talk to the Research Center about a way to clear the gas at the final location.

They parted ways in Central Plaza, Ursula twirling her cane as she walked off. Arlo caught her arm to keep her from wandering off and after a significant look she followed him up the path toward the Civil Corp headquarters. 

"I'd feel better about all of this if Mali were here," he said, scrubbing at his face. Maya collapsed onto the couch with a huff of agreement. 

"When is she coming back?"

"I don't know. The Mayor can't get in touch with her through any of the official channels, and I can't reach her through any of the unofficial ones. I don't like it."

"Me either," she admitted and moved her legs so Arlo could sit, settling her feet in his lap. He squeezed her ankle. "Ursula scares me a little."

"The Mayor is suspicious. I am too, and you need to be extra careful right now. I'd feel better if you stayed here."

"Aadit's at home. And I have the yard warded. I'll be fine."

Arlo sighed, but didn't argue. 

"At least promise me you'll be careful. Don't go into any ruins with them if one of the Corps isn't also with you, okay?"

"Yeah, that seems sensible."

"I just wish I knew what was going on."

"You and me both, buddy."

***

Maya looked up from where she was sitting on the Assembly Station, trying to get the propeller inside the exhaust fan seated properly, when she heard Teddy trotting down the road. 

"Hey, kid, you seen Django today?"

"Uh, no. Why?"

"Arlo wants to get his take on the Council Guards. Something just feels off about them and that man hears all the gossip. He wasn't at home and Sonia says he probably won't be at the restaurant today."

"Huh," Maya said and tilted her head in consideration. Ryder kind of creeped her out and Ursula was… intimidating, but Ten seemed like a cool guy. She didn't know how you could dislike someone who joked around and liked to eat as much as that man did. After a moment she pointed south toward the desert, "he's that way somewhere. Probably buying produce in South Block?"

Sam gave her the funniest look. 

"How do you know that?"

"What? Oh, he's been pretty excited about being able to get fresher stuff for the restaurant."

"No, how do you know where he is?"

"I don't know. I can just tell," she shrugged. 

"Since when? Can you do that with everyone?" Sam demanded. Maya frowned.

"I don't know, a month or something? And no, just Django. It's pretty strange."

She did know, actually. It started right after she'd accidentally burned that sigil into his skin. She didn't think it went both ways, at least. She hoped it didn't go both ways. She spent an embarrassing amount of time playing with llamas or hanging out with panbats, and Django already seemed to despair of her most days. Although, more and more frequently she caught him watching her like she was a puzzle he needed to sort out, but that could also just be a byproduct of her whole everything. 

Sam sighed. 

"You gotta stop getting weirder, kid."

"Hey!"

***

"New book?" Maya joked. Aadit sighed and folded the stack of papers he was looking over while she walked closer to the steps he was sitting on. 

It was early afternoon and he hadn't come home for lunch, so after she'd finished with the exhaust fan she decided to make some sandwiches and surprise him at the Tree Farm. 

"I wish," he said, tilting his head to meet her when she bent down for a kiss, "Dawa's never been good with paperwork, but it's really starting to pile up."

"Gross. Anything I can help with?"

"No, but thank you darling. It's pretty boring."

"I'm glad the Guild has Antoine to handle that stuff. Hey, you didn't come home so I brought lunch."

***

"Oh! Strawberries!" Maya yelled, jumping suddenly out of Spacer's saddle and stumbling to find her feet. Arlo laughed and pulled the horse to a stop.

"Weren't you out here before to fix the bridge?"

"Yeah, but I didn't notice them then," she said, kneeling to examine the tiny flowers. She fingered the petals for a few moments, half of a memory tugging at her. They looked really familiar for some reason, even though she knew they didn't grow anywhere closer to the town. 

"Come on, you lump. We don't want to keep the others waiting."

"Right," she said, standing with a frown and letting Arlo help her back into the saddle. 

What was she forgetting?

***

It always bewildered her, the extent of some of the ruin complexes. The old world had built _into_ the earth just as much as they liked their buildings to crawl up the sky. 

Remington kept a hand fisted in the back of her shirt while she peered over the ledge they were on. It was a pretty long drop, the room below massive and full of shipping containers.

"I can jump this. What about you two?"

Maya shook her head. No way she'd make that gap. She practiced, sometimes, with Sam or Arlo watching over her, leaping the great chasms she mined out of the Abandoned Ruin behind HQ, but that was with the safety of a jet pack and the knowledge that she could save herself.

She didn't like falling.

She still remembered falling through that hole in WOW Industries. She still remembered the way that her barrier had cracked on impact and the pain she'd felt after. 

She still had nightmares where she was careening through the dark, where she woke with a start on the floor with Aadit peering down at her in concern. 

"I've got a bad knee," Remington admitted. 

Maya blinked. She'd heard that story, seen the scar, but standing there in the ruin was the first time it occurred to her that he'd named his horse _Arrow._

Oh man, Remington was the sneaky kind of funny.

"Just give me a couple minutes to see if I can get the bridge down. I might be able to trick the console from this side."

***

_Visual identification: Confirmed_

_Welcome back: Maya_

"Hey, thank you," Maya greeted, waving to one of the cameras near the ceiling. Third time through and she still felt weird about the situation, but at least her nerves weren't as jumpy when the AI inevitably recognized her.

_Of course. It appears you are with some unauthorized personnel._

"Nah, these are my guests," Maya said, waving at Ursula and Remington, "hey, so I've never been here before, right?"

_To this location, no._

"How come you guys keep telling me welcome back, then?"

_All locations controlled by the All Source have access to the same database._

"Right," Maya paused to let that sink in, "that's who we're looking for. The third key is here, right?"

_Keys one and two are activated. Key three is ready for activation. Authorization required._

"What does that… oh, uh, authorized?"

***

"Wow, look at that!" Maya yelled, taking in the ruin that had spun tall and proud out of the ground. They'd been walking right by the All Source location the whole time.

"Mr. Arlo, take my men and set up a perimeter. I don't want the Rogue Knight getting in there. I need to confer with my superiors about our next step, but be ready to move in a few days."

***

Maya didn't go home immediately, instead decided to hang out at the Tree Farm until Aadit was done with work for the day. She settled down under a tree and found herself with a blanket of panbats all ready to take a nap with her. 

She was half asleep when they got fussy, shaking and huddling under her arm and cooing to her in warning. When she blinked awake, Ursula was leaving through the gate and Aadit was watching her. 

"She wasn't hassling you, was she?" Maya yawned when he ambled over.

"No, she was curious about your friends here."

She frowned. They were still agitated about something. She caught one that was fluttering in front of her face and scratched at its belly to try and soothe it.

"I don't know what's got them all riled up. Maybe you guys should break out the boombox for a little bit?"

"I'll go grab it. I gotta put this paperwork back inside anyway. You ready to head home?"

"In a minute."

***

Mid-afternoon the next day saw her hanging out at The Round Table. It still weirded her out, even a year later, that whole buildings could just be empty in the middle of the day. Django liked to use the downtime to try out recipes, which meant Maya got first taste of new menu items when she was around. 

"Hey, did Sam find you the other day?"

"She did indeed," he nodded and then fixed her with a look, "and she told me _you_ told _her_ where to find me."

"Yeah? Are you guys like gossip buddies now?"

"Baby girl," he sighed. 

"Look, what did she tell you?"

"That you can tell where I am."

"So you _are_ gossip buddies. Look, are you mad? Because I promise I'm not using it to creep on you."

"When did this start?"

"Eh, a while ago," she hedged. He scrubbed a hand over his face, "look, I _think_ it's just because I'm used to the way your magic feels? And it isn't like there are other users in town for me to pick up on, so there isn't any, um… interference? You can't… uh, you can't tell where I am, can you?"

He was silent for a long time, like he was trying to choose his words very carefully. 

"Not as such. I can feel _something,_ but I couldn't use it to locate you. It's stronger when you're close."

"How close?"

"If you left the restaurant I wouldn't be aware of it anymore."

"So that's probably it then, right? Like, we both know I'm weird. What? Why are you giving me that look? You have a different theory, don't you?"

He frowned and said nothing. 

"Fine. Don't tell the person with the weird new ability about why they are weird. What did Sam have to say?"

"She wanted my opinion on the Council Guards."

"Right, no, she told me that."

He drummed his fingers on the bar.

"It is strange. Ten and Ryder sound more like call signs than names, don't you think?"

"I mean, if you want to get picky I should point out that we have a Mint in town. And Gale. And Gust. Oh, I never realized that. Gale and Gust. I wonder if that's a family thing. No, then Ginger should be Breeze or Windy or something. Unless they were going for 'g' names? Uh…. All I'm coming up with is Gasp."

"Baby girl, focus."

"I am focused. I'm just saying, it's not that weird. And even if they _are_ call signs, they _are_ military."

"I'm concerned that Mali hasn't returned yet."

Maya sighed and reached over to calm the hand still abusing the counter. 

"Me too. We're all a little upset by that, but you gotta think Mali is a busy lady, right? Maybe they just gave her a new assignment."

"Just… be careful."

"I'm always careful."

"That isn't remotely true."

***

"Hey, want to go for a walk with me today?"

She looked up at her husband, still lingering in the house even though he usually left much earlier, his expression an unusual mix of regret and remorse and loss. It sent a sharp pain through her heart. They hadn't spent as much time together lately, for all that they lived in the same house and shared meals and showers and lazing evenings on the couch. She'd been so busy with the All Source mess and she knew he still spent days at the Tree Farm reading thick stacks of reports, playing catch up from the winter they'd when they'd been playing newlyweds. 

"I can't," she mourned, "Ursula is ready to move on the All Source. She's taking _everyone._ I need to get moving soon so I'm not late."

He nodded and came to collect her out of the dining chair for a hug. 

"I'm sorry," she told him, "tomorrow? I'll make it up to you."

"I love you, darling."

Her heart stuttered a little bit. She knew, she felt it with every fond look and lingering touch, but he said it so rarely that it always made her heart soar. 

"I love you. Tomorrow, okay? I promise. I'll see you tonight?"

"I'll be here," he assured her. 

"Hey, let me finish getting ready and I'll walk with you to work instead? We're up there, anyway."

"I've got the day off, but yes, I'll walk with you."

***

Maya wasn't the last one to arrive which was, she'd admit, a total shock. She had lingered at the gate of the Tree Farm with Aadit, gripping his hands and trying to understand why he was so tense. It was like he was thumbing with barely contained energy, anxious and ready for _something._

"Be careful."

"Hey, this is it, okay? They'll take the damn thing and leave, and then we can go back to being normal, boring people," she promised. 

"There is nothing normal or boring about you. I knew that from day one. You are such a _treasure."_

"Hey, if you don't stop singing my praises my ego will be too big to even fit in the ruin," she had joked.

She had watched him leave, heart weird and heavy. It seemed so… final.

Higgins was there, which she'd known but still surprised her, and she stood next to him in a show of… not exactly peace, but solidarity. They were two of a kind in a mass of fighters, and they'd been in the same situation before but it felt _different._ He could sense it, too, didn't make snarky or mean comments.

"Be careful in there, my rival."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Why are you like this? Listen, you be careful too. I don't want to have to do everything for this town," she said, just as she spotted Sam running across the bridge. 

"Good, now that everyo-" 

"Actually, Captain, I need to have a quick word with Arlo before we start," Sam interrupted, grabbing the man in question and dragging him a few feet away. 

Maya could barely make out what she was saying, with Arlo's head bent close to her and her words barely a breath in his ear.

" _Mayor got… Mali… Shark… shot down… just made it."_

Maya watched the way Arlo's shoulders tensed and straightened, the look on his face when Sam followed him back to the group a reminder that the easy-going man _was_ the Civil Corps leader, that he was a man in contention to run with the most prestigious adventuring guild in the Free Cities. 

She reached over and grabbed Higgins arm, pulling him a step back with her heart sinking.

"Captain, you never said, have you ever met my good friend Stanza?"

"Mr. Arlo," Ursusla sighed. 

"No, he's a really great guy. I learned a lot from him."

"Yes, yes, I know him."

Maya blinked. That… wasn't right. She shared a significant look with Sam, who nodded.

"Well that's too bad," Arlo shrugged. Sam and Remington moved to flank, a team so in sync they didn't need words or direction, and Maya drew her sword, "I'm wondering, should I keep calling you Ursula or do you prefer Ms. Everglade of the Flying Shark Pirates?"

_"What?"_

"Mali just made it back to Atara. After you shot her down in the desert," Sam accused. 

"I told you we should have checked the crash, boss."

Ursula sighed like she was unconcerned, "what unfortunate timing. This could have been so easy for you all. Finish them!"

"How exciting," Ryder grinned. 

Fighting them made her realize how foolish she'd been. They were tough, sure, but Council Guards should have been more in league with someone like Mali. Maya couldn't understand the confidence they squared off with.

Ryder threw Higgins to the ground and lunged at her, while Sam and Arlo teamed up against Ursula and Remington fought Ten. He dodged around her attack and caught her in his grip right at a soft spot on her neck, grinning like a disgusting maniac. His face changed to confusion when Maya smiled back and dropped the sword. She didn't need a weapon to lay him out. 

"A little kinky for me," she commented, and wrapped a hand around his wrist. 

She shocked him so hard he was still convulsing when he landed, and then she kicked him in the stomach for good measure. 

"I knew you were a creep," she said, wiping her hands together and looking at the others, "what do we do now?"

"Tie them up," Arlo commanded, "Sam, did the mayor mention whe-"

He cut himself off and fell back a step. The Rogue Knight was watching them from the ruin platform. 

"My, Everglade," he said, leaning casually on the railing, "you said you wouldn't need help."

She lost her vision in a cloud of smoke and then the world went dark with a crack to her temple. 

***

"Oh good, you're awake. I think he hit you harder than he meant to," Ten said in _almost_ apology when she moaned and blinked her eyes open to look at him. 

"Ten, man, I thought we were bros," she complained. Wow, her head hurt. 

"That was a neat trick with Ryder. You hiding a taser somewhere?"

"I'm going to set you on fire as soon as I figure out which one of you is real."

"Oh, yikes, do you have a concussion?" he asked. When he bent down to peer into her eyes she kicked his knee so hard that she felt it _pop._

"You bitch," he spat, and pulled his hand back to strike her. He seemed to restrain himself before the blow came and took a few steps back to compose himself. 

"You guys just sit tight."

"Who do you work for, _pirate?"_

"Why would I tell you a thing like that?"

"Excuse me, good sir," a new voice said, and Maya jerked around to see Tuss, of all people, standing there twisting his hat in his hands.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Agent T, part of the… Portia Debt Collection Society. You appear to be trespassing on the Marsh."

"I don't get paid enough for this," Ten groaned. Maya could see Huss sneaking around the building with a pan in his hand, but neither of them were very smart and the angle was all wrong. Ten would see him before he even got close.

Well, she didn't need precision to burn the binding on her wrists.

"Trespassing is a pretty serious offense," she claimed, climbing to her feet. Ten spun to look at her. 

"How did you-"

Huss might be an idiot, but he was a strong idiot. Ten crumpled with the blow to his head. 

"I was just about to break my shoulder to get free."

"Higgins, you idiot," Maya said, sinking back into the grass while Tuss and Huss untied everyone else and Huss swooned with literal hearts in his eyes when Sam complimented him, "it's your _thumb_ not your _shoulder."_

"You okay?" Arlo asked, touching her shoulder. She nodded wearily. 

"I'll be fine."

"Good. We're gonna need your help to go after them."

Maya sighed and rubbed a hand against her head, feeling her magic tingle while the migraine eased. 

***

"Oh my God, it teleported."

"Now isn't the time!" Sam yelled, right before the magic swirled around her. It picked up Maya, too, and they were whisked away.

***

"We're outside?" Maya asked, catching the other woman's arm to steady herself. It took half a second to realize they were surrounded by Sentidogs, "oh crap."

"It looks like more AI are attacking the town!" Sam yelled as she sprung into action.

Sentidogs were annoying, but the real challenge was how fatigued she was starting to feel. There had been an awful lot of fighting already. 

With the bots down they raced together down the hill, into the Plaza where Django was gathering people into the restaurant.

"Go!" he yelled, punching through one of the giant bots, "they're in Central Plaza. I'll take care of these."

Maya help a barrier around him for a moment, absorbing the whip tail of one of the Sentidogs, and then ran. 

Sam was ahead of her and just managed to jump out of the way when one with the cannon heads shot. The Civil Corps woman was unharmed, but the blast shattered Alice's shop and set flowers flying everywhere. 

Maya snapped her fingers, willing to endure the fire ripping through her to have it over quickly, though rethinking her decision when acrid smoke plumed into the air. 

"I really can't get that one right," she sighed. 

"Come _on,"_ Sam urged, catching her hand to drag her the rest of the way to Central Plaza.

Maya had never seen a robot so large. 

Remington and Arlo were already fighting it, running in to smack at the feet before having to fall away or be crushed.

The ground shook when the huge AI stomped, and the Rogue Knight stood atop laughing while he shouted orders and taunted them.

"To think, they are paying me for this!"

Her palm cut against a rose when she fell, the thorns digging into her skin, and she clutched her fingers around the stem to steady herself.

The All Source lifted its foot above and hit against a hasty barrier and then raised the leg for another strike that Maya wasn't sure she could hold against. The Knight shouted _something_ ("No! Leave her!"). The AI lowered its leg, peering down at her, digital face changing from anger to confusion to recognition. 

Maya climbed to her feet. 

"Stand down!" she ordered, shaking, because the AI in the ruins had listened to her. 

_I can't,_ the giant face mourned, with more emotion than Maya had ever heard even from a _human._

"All Source! The others!"

"Stand down!" Maya screamed.

The rose in her hand twisted when the AI turned away and she felt it pull at her magic. Maya listened, threw the flower to the ground and stamped a foot down on it.

' _Grow,'_ she thought, ' _vines. Grow. Bigger. Tangle the legs, climb the wires, get_ inside _.'_

Warm blood trickled from her nose and Remington raced over to keep her from falling, but she kept feeding even when she staggered. The vines climbed the legs until they were locked down, flowers blooming up metal and joints until finally the whole thing shuttered and stilled, limbs retracting with the neatest bit of magic Maya had ever seen. The giant screen cluttered dark to the ground covered in vines like a bush, the Rogue Knight screaming and ripping at flowers that withered and were replaced. 

She sagged against Remington, who lowered her to the ground and stepped away to stand in front.

Maya had never known rage like the aura rolling off of their enemy. Arlo and Sam moved to intercept him when he drew his sword, but they were as spent as she was and the Knight threw Remington like he was paper against the base of the Wishing Tree. 

"Why do you fight me?" he seethed, pointing his sword at her while he stepped forward. Something tugged at her senses, coming closer, and she heaved a sigh of relief. 

"Why do you?"

"You. Cannot. Win."

"I don't have to. I just had to slow you down."

And then Django was there to catch the sword when the Rogue Knight swung, and that was _her_ sigil, that was barrier he was using in time with his arms lit up and lightning sparking off of him. 

"The Storm Knight!"

"Are they letting anyone join the ranks these days?"

He fought their enemy back and away while Maya crawled over to Remington and cradled the man's head in her lap, fingers finding the back of his skull cracked and bleeding and she used the last dregs of her energy to heal the damage. 

' _Not today,'_ she begged while the bone knit back together. 

The fight went on for a while, a flurry of movement Maya almost couldn't track, and she didn't know how Django was still upright with the amount of power he was spilling. 

The Rogue Knight went flying back with a kick to his chest, catching himself only by stabbing his sword into stone. 

"So undisciplined," Django scoffed. 

The Rogue Knight chuckled and stood, making no move to pull his relic out of the ground. 

"I can't win against fools," he said and was gone. 

The sound of silence in the Plaza was almost louder than the rushing of blood in her ears. 

"Remington!" Sam screamed, skidding to a stop over Maya and the Civil Corps man, Arlo close behind. 

"He's okay," she promised, letting Sam take him, "I healed the worst of it. I think. I tried."

She looked up when Django came to stand over them and gave him the biggest smile she had energy for. 

"Nice timing."

"That's cute," he said, nodding to the rose covered console. Maya laughed and couldn't stop laughing, hysterical even when the Mayor and Xu and Phyllis converged on them, even when the whole of the town gathered in the remains of Central Plaza, even when the baffled Doctor loaded Remington onto a stretcher and Django lifted her to her feet. 

"Let's not do this again," she suggested, leaning against the man in the red coat, "at least not for a week. I'm tired."

"I'll be sure to block out the calendar," Arlo promised. 

"Yeah. Good plan."

***

Aadit wasn't at home when she got back and she tore through every room looking for him, panic choking her heart and making it impossible to think.

He was coming through the gate when she fell back into the yard and he let her beat on his chest when she sprinted across the grass to him.

"Where have you been!" she shrieked, her legs giving out in relief. 

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I went to go check on Sophie," he explained, sunk to the ground with her. Maya cried so hard she could barely see him, reaching up to touch the bruise forming under his eye. 

"I was so scared something had happened to you!"

"I'm fine," he promised, whispering into her hair, "I'm fine. It's over. I'm okay."

***

He fucked her in the shower while her back pressed against the tiles and his fingers tracing every inch, lingering on her wrist. She climbed on top of of him, again, in their bed and he whispered that he loved her over and over while she rode him, until she collapsed against his chest and settled into the safety of his arms and slept. 

In the morning he was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys. Chapter 8 and 9 are pretty short again, so I'm thinking of posting those together. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!!!!!!!


	8. Summer, Year 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing is alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, good friends.

It took a week for the rumors to start. 

Maya was dragging another cart full of materials through town to meet with Albert, feeling dull and empty and lifeless, when Mei approached her for an interview. 

Arlo had to throw her over his shoulder to get her away from the reporter, and she scratched at his back in a rage while he carried her up the hill and settled her in the armchair at HQ. 

"How _dare_ she."

"Maya," Arlo whispered, still holding her shoulders steady when he leaned over to kiss her forehead, "you know we have to search your house. We've already been over the Tree Farm."

Her breath hitched and she broke down in another round of tears, Ryder and Ten silent in the cell.

"No, Arlo," she cried, pleading, "you know it can't be him."

"I know," he agreed, "but we still have to."

Her husband was gone and it was like rubbing salt in the wound when she let the Civil Corps into her workshop. While they poked around her house she sat in the middle of the assembly station, out of the way, clinging to the bear he'd left as a parting gift at the spot where they had that picnic, at the spot where he'd proposed. 

Remington ambled over, a full _miraculous_ recovery, and folded himself down beside her. 

"We're sorry. We don't want to."

"I know," she said, because she did. They'd gone over every other lead first, giving her space to mourn and rage and cry and scream inside the walls of the house. Maya understood, even if it left her feeling cold and empty and betrayed. 

She'd helped save the town, been tossed around and beaten, had healed Remington and stood against a Rogue Knight and a rampaging AI, and then her heart had been ripped right out and people kept giving her _looks,_ and really, what was one more little injustice.

"I'm sorry," Remington said again when they found nothing and let themselves out. 

Afternoon turned to evening. She couldn't stop crying, couldn't find the will to move, just clung to the bear and squeezed the relic inside.

"Darling," it said. 

"Darling."

"Darling."

Again. 

"Darling."

***

"Come on, Maya," Petra begged. Mali had finally made it back from Atara and was sitting in on the meeting in Gale's office, because Maya refused to go to the Research Center while the All Source was housed there, even if it was decommissioned and still covered in roses that no one could remove. 

"No."

"This is a huge discovery!"

"No," she repeated. In a baffling turn of events, she had the backing of the Church of Light against the Research Center and Nora put a calm hand on her shoulder in reassurance. 

"Think of all the good-"

"Think of all the damage!"

"Mali," Merlin said, turning to the adventurer for help. The tall woman shrugged.

"The Alliance has decided it's up to Portia what they want to do with it. I'm not here to enforce anything, one way or the other."

Merlin scoffed and stormed out of the office. Petra lingered for a moment before she followed. 

"Are you sure it's for the best?" Gale asked, after the Minster and Nora had also left. 

Maya scrubbed at her face and massaged her temples. She was tired. She just wanted to go home and sleep, but she couldn't sleep at home, always found herself cold and in the dark and staring up at the ceiling waiting for rest that wouldn't come. 

She missed Aadit. She wanted him to come home and read to her and keep her safe.

"I don't know," she admitted, "I can't really stop them from keeping it, but I'm not willing to wake it up and deal with it again. Maybe they can put it in the museum or something."

***

Django leaned on the bar in front of her and Maya shook her head at the look on his face. 

"Not you, too," she demanded, half in tears just from that.

He held up his hands and went back to wiping down glasses. 

***

She avoided town. Avoided everyone. She spent a lot of time warming her bones in the desert and dozing in the field against Papa Bear while they watched Oaks play with the llamas and taking out her frustrations on the monsters in the deepest levels of the Deepest Ruin. 

On the hundredth floor she set the Forgotten Knight on fire with a snap of her fingers, and watched in grim satisfaction while it burned. She couldn't imagine how long it had been there, how old it must have been, but she felt older.

She was a ghost in her own home, a pale and lonely specter in town, tired and trailing after whichever Civil Corps member came to collect her from the house. She'd finally given up and added them to the access line, too weary to open the wards or wander to the gate when they came to check on her. 

"I thought it was weird," Mali commented one day, "that I felt like I had to wait in the road instead of coming to knock on the door."

Things returned to normal after that, because they had to. 


	9. Autumn, Year 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maurice is a bad dad. Like, so bad.

Summer bled into autumn. Aadit didn't return (it was getting easier to live with, that he was gone and he wasn't coming home), but her father did. 

"Ahem," he said one morning outside her workshop. Maya just stared at him with her mouth open.

"Are you going to stand there gaping or are you going to say something?"

"Go away."

"You forget my face or something? Don't recognize your own Pa?"

"I know who you are," she told him, "and I'd like you to go away."

"What, I can't come visit?"

"When have you ever?" 

She waved a hand in signal to Remington, out on the early patrol. He and Arrow trotted over.

"Problem?" he asked. Maya wandered closer to the gate while he dismounted and let himself in, Arrow leaving to graze in her yard. Maurice watched with a sour look on his face. 

"Could be."

"Don't be so cold," her father admonished. "I just got back from an expedition. I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I don't believe that. I haven't seen you in _eleven years_. What are you doing here?"

"Like I said," he shrugged. "I guess I'll stay with Presley."

Maya didn't realize how tense she was until he passed through the town gate and she took a breath. She turned to Remington. 

"Is that-"

"Yes. It is. I don't know what he wants, but it isn't whatever he says."

"Maya."

"Remington," she countered. "Just be careful, okay?"

***

News of the _legendary builder_ in town travelled so quickly that Maya didn't understand why Gale bothered to introduce him at that week's Fireside meeting. Instead of hanging out with the crowd she sat next to Django on the bench in the plaza while the other man read. 

"They say what he's here for?"

"Nope. _Blah blah blah,_ you all know this man. He hasn't moved into the apartments, has he?"

"Not that Sonia has mentioned."

"Can't be planning to stay that long, then."

Django marked the page in his book and put a hand on her knee. 

"Exploring is dangerous. Near death experiences often see people reevaluating their life choices," he pointed out. 

"Please," she scoffed, "I'm sure it didn't take _eleven_ years for him to get himself almost killed."

"Not everyone has your penchant for finding trouble." 

"I don't think that's fair, and I don't see how that can be true if you go literally _looking_ for trouble."

"I'm just saying, baby girl, maybe his purpose isn't as nefarious as you're thinking."

Maya eyed him for a moment before she drew her legs up on the bench and leaned against him. It helped to settle the tension in her gut when he put an arm over her shoulders. 

"This is _me_ we're talking about."

He laughed and Maya fought the quiet grin on her face. Serious conversation.

"Don't set him on fire."

"I was thinking it would be cleaner to just have the ground like," she made a scooping gesture, "swallow him."

"No earthquakes."

"You used to be fun," she complained. "I guess you'll just have to fight him for my honor, then."

***

"Can't," Maya shrugged and leaned back from the diagram Presley had rolled out on the coffee table. It was a slow day at the Commerce Guild, and he'd asked her to hang back after picking up a commission that morning. If she'd known then what he wanted, she would have just walked out. 

A builder bout? Come on. 

Maurice was sitting on the other side of Presley on the couch and Maya had taken one of the armchairs. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. 

"And here Pres was telling me what a great builder you've become," he taunted. Maya rolled her eyes. 

"You've built a plane before," Presley pointed out. 

"Yeah, but Mali had to import the engine for it. You can't just dig up a jet engine under the Temple."

"This doesn't call for a jet engine."

"It doesn't _call_ for it, but it's not gonna fly without one. The math is all screwed up, see?" she asked, pulling a pencil from behind her ear and scribbling in the margin, "it's too heavy, even _if_ you use carbon fiber. The diagram is trash. So unless you know where we can get some, or you have a diagram for _that,_ I don't see how you could make this fly. I can build you _a_ plane, but it won't be _this_ plane."

"Maurice?"

"You could come up with something better?" Pa challenged, voice heavy with offense. Oh man, had he designed that thing? That was hilarious. Legendary builder, sure. 

She shrugged. 

"Not anything Atara would want. Like I said, jet engine."

"We could talk to the Research Center?"

"Go ahead, but Merlin will laugh at you if you show her that."

"They have an All Source."

Maya laughed in his face and Presley pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's a wealth of knowledge," she agreed easily, "you go ahead and have a chat with her. Let me know what she says."

Maurice yanked the diagram from the table and stomped out of the Guild. 

"That wasn't very kind."

"10 gol says he's been waiting for a legitimate excuse to go down there and check it out."

She couldn't think of any reason for the plane to have been that ridiculous otherwise. The Research Center had been off limits to tourists for _months_ , ever since the Locator Computer theft, and the incident with the All Source had been kept pretty _hush hush._ It wasn't likely he knew the AI had been decommissioned and Maya kind of wished she could be there to see the look on his face. 

Of course, it was also possible that he wanted her to build something that was designed to fail from the onset. 

She probably could have made it work regardless, between her knowledge of runes and Nora's shocking deep knowledge of energy and energy transfer and power output. They didn't _need_ a jet engine, it would just be easier. And suspicious without. 

Maya didn't want Mali to come lecture her again. 

"I'm gonna go dick around South Block for the rest of the day. Oaks needs help with the desert hoppers again. They've been pushing into town."

"Why doesn't he just talk to them," Presley sighed. Maya leaned forward to pat his shoulder. 

"They don't listen to him. They don't really listen to me, either, but I'm scarier."

"Just be careful, dear."

"I'm _always_ careful. See you tomorrow."

***

"I can't believe that asshole bit me."

"Sit still and let me finish wrapping it," Oaks complained. 

The snakes had at least agreed to stay out of South Block, but that wouldn't last long. Maya couldn't tell if snakes were really forgetful or if they were just liars. 

Probably liars.

"Can you believe that asshole bit me?"

"You called him a deflated balloon animal and then threatened to make it start snowing."

"Yeah, but I don't actually know if I can do that. Oaks stop, I'm gonna heal it anyway. I have to because of the venom."

"You didn't tell me that."

"I didn't want you to worry about it."

"I don't feel so bad about you kicking him, anymore."

Maya sighed and pulled her hands up her calf, the venom burning up in her veins and making them glow briefly while the skin knit back together. 

"It freaks me out when you do that."

"Yeah. Can you leave this out of your report, maybe?"

"I got in trouble when they found out about the bikini flipper."

"Ugh, but if you put it in there then Django will somehow find out and then _Presley_ will find out, and I told him I was gonna stay out of trouble today."

Oaks offered her a hand to help her stand and then tugged awkwardly at his shirt. When he officially joined the Civil Corps they told him he could keep the bear cape, but that he needed to wear a tan button down like Remington and Arlo sported. Maya wasn't sure how Sam managed to get out of the semi-uniform, but she suspected it was because… Sam.

"Presley is pretty smart. I don't think he believed you."

"Wow."

They climbed up on Squash, the white llama Oaks used instead of a horse, and hopped back toward South Block. 

She wasn't exactly surprised, when later that evening Presley approached her at The Round Table. 

"Your diplomacy skills could use some work."

Maya sighed at let her head fall against the bar. 

"I knew it."

***

She heard a second hand account of the scene Maurice had caused when he learned the All Source was decommissioned from Django who had heard about it from Toby, who was at the Museum on a field trip when it happened. 

Between Merlin and Lucy, she was willing to bet that he wouldn't travel back to that side of town anytime soon. 

A week passed, and then two, and even though he was still puttering around the confrontation she expected to have with him about it never happened. 

***

Presley came one evening to bully her into joining them for dinner before the old man left. 

"No."

She stood in the doorway with her arms crossed, angry and embarrassed that everyone kept pushing at her to reconciliation. 

"Maya, he's your father."

" _You've_ been more a father to me than he _ever_ has," she denied. 

"Come for me, then," he sighed, "I don't want you to have any regrets."

"I wouldn't."

"Maya."

"Oh Gods, stop with the guilt trip. Fine."

The meal was… not pleasant, but uneventful right up until the end. 

"Why don't you tell us about your travels?" 

"Oh, Presley, the things I've seen," Maurice grinned. He gripped Presley on the shoulder like they were sharing a joke, while Maya gripped her cutlery so hard she briefly wondered if Django would be angry to have to replace her set. 

"That's quite dangerous."

"Yes, every expedition could be my last, but I've met some of the most amazing people!"

"I imagine it must be nice to join up with others who share your passion."

"Not only that. I actually met someone who'd just come from Portia. What a small world!"

Maurice eyed her across the table, and Maya was caught between the urge to stare him down and the desire to pretend he didn't exist. If only she had laser eyes. Or Ack had laser eyes. Or if anyone had laser eyes. 

Teleportation was a thing, why couldn't the universe have given her something with laser eyes?

"Ah, yes, we've had quite a few tourists through lately."

"Not a tourist. He said he'd been around looking for the All Source you folks dug up."

If it weren't for Django's hand suddenly on her shoulder and Presley pinning her arm to the table she didn't know what might have happened. She took a deep breath and tapped to signal she was okay. 

Ten and Ryder were still locked up, as far as she knew. Mali had seen to their relocation herself.

The only other people who it could have been were Everglade or-

"Did you get a name?" Django asked. 

"Squirrelly man. Didn't like to talk about his past. Said he was a Knight, though."

Of course. 

"And so you came to see for yourself?"

"What father wouldn't, after the questions he had about you," Maurice said. 

"What kind of _questions?"_

"The kind no one would have if you'd _done as I asked,"_ he hissed. 

"And let myself be killed the first time something came at me that I could defend myself against?" she demanded, standing so quickly the chair fell to the floor behind her. "What did you tell him?"

Maurice shrugged, leaning back in his chair with a smug expression that Maya wanted to _burn_ right off. 

"I just gave him some coordinates."

"Right. Of course. Real classy. Thanks, Pa."

"I'm _not_ your father."

"No shit. I wish mom had never met you."

"I wish Clara'd never _found_ you! We could have been so happy except for you, you abomination!"

Maya was gratified by the affront on Presley's face, and the anger etched into every line of Sonia's body, and the way that Django followed her when she stormed out of the restaurant.

They were down by her workshop before he managed to catch her arm, and she slumped against the fence. 

"I'm okay," she promised, even though she was shaking when he gathered her a little roughly in his arms. 

He held her like he couldn't imagine a reality where he let her go, and he kissed the top of her head and buried his nose in her hair and held her face in his hands when she managed to push away. 

"Django, I'm fine. It's nothing I didn't know."

He leaned his forehead against hers and she blinked at the tension lines on his face even as his breathing eased. Something inside of her cried a little bit, ached when he was close, and she couldn't figure out the mix of relief and anxiousness rolling from him when she was in his arms. 

"Django," she said again, feeling itchy about the pattern they were in. 

"Baby girl," he breathed and closed his mouth over hers. 

Maya had never imagined it. For all that he was a solid presence in her life and for all that something inside of her yearned to reach out and wrap around him, she had never imagined it. Even after she fisted a hand in his coat and smoothed the other over the side of his face, even after his tongue chased after hers and she bit his lip, even after they sparked against each other and he pressed forward, seeking, searching, it was more than she could imagine. 

He lingered for a long time, nipping at her lip while she caught her breath, her hands still caught in his hair. 

"Baby girl," he said again, and that's when it finally occurred to her how reverent he sounded, how much a prayer it was. 

It scared her, the way her heart beat against him and the way her magic sang under her skin. It scared her, the way she fit into his arms and the way he cradled her like she was more precious than air. It scared her that she'd never felt anything like that before, like belonging and unity. Like she was _whole._

"Django?" she asked, shaking and bewildered and struggling to find her feet when he pulled away. 

"I'm sorry," he said, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Maya held his hand until he'd walked far enough to pull away.

"No," she protested, "I just…"

But he was already back through the gate, shoulders hunched, and Maya didn't know if she was meant to chase after him or not. 

***

He wasn't at The Round Table the next morning, and Maya was too much a coward to go to his home to tell him her father had left. 

And then it was too late. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I don't know if you know this or not, but I have a problem where I really love Django.
> 
> I'm not sorry.


	10. ???, Year ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Can you give me a minute? I'm having a crisis."
> 
> "Of course, darling. Take your time."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So, I kind of have a sequel in mind for this? Let me know if that is something you would be interested in. I haven't written much yet, barely 5k words, so it would take me a while to punch it out. 
> 
> But, to that end, I went back and fixed one reeeeaaally minor continuity issue in chapter 4, when Aadit and Maya are at Duck Pond. Instead of him saying that he was an only child, he admits that he has a brother. Literally I changed about 5 words, but just so you know.

_“But you’re certain it’s_ safe _?”_

_..._

_“Do it.”_

***

Sometimes it felt like time wasn't moving. The landscape didn't change much, just jagged rocks and dust in the air and a sky that didn't look quite right. She had long lost track of the number of ruins they passed (she didn't know if she'd ever kept track). Some of them they entered, most of them they didn't. 

Or maybe it felt like it was looping, like she was stuck. Sometimes she'd say something like-

"Where are we?"

-and Aadit would get the same pinched look on his face like the one he had, and then he'd say-

"Darling, we've talked about this."

Like that. 

Maya would give almost anything to not put that look on his face, but a virus (a lingering virus, how long had she been sick?) had fried out her brain and the medication they had her on made her feel fuzzy and lethargic, left her nauseous and uncoordinated.

"I don't remember."

"We're in the Peripheries."

She didn't like that. The Peripheries were cold, she was always cold, even after they found her the heaviest coat, even when she huddled shivering against Aadit she was _cold._

The dust sent her into horrible blood specked coughing fits that had her team of doctors in a frenzy. They were constantly adjusting her medication, up the dose, down the dose, and checking her eyes and her pulse and arguing with Aadit and Ursula while she covered her head to drown out the _noise._

She missed the desert.

"Darling, come here," Aadit commanded, calling her back from the ledge she was peering over. The drop off was long and steep and it would just take one step for it to be _over_ for her to be _away from them._

Sometimes she didn't know what she was thinking. 

She blinked and stepped back, and Aadit swept her off her feet. 

"Put your mask back on."

"I can't breathe when I wear it," she complained. 

"You can't breathe without it," he reasoned, and she fumbled the thing back over her nose and mouth. 

"What are you wearing?" she asked, head pressed against the cold metal of his breastplate. She picked at the purple fabric around his neck. He had the hood up, covering his hair, and it made her head itch and her heartbeat stutter. 

"We talked about this," he sighed. 

"I don't remember."

"You should try to sleep."

"I don't want to sleep. You're always telling me to sleep."

"Sleep," he repeated.

So she slept. 

***

_She woke with her head at a sharp angle, propped into a chair but not tied to it. At first she didn't move, tried to keep her breathing even, and cracked one eye just enough so see the room was blindingly lit. That was fine, she could adjust. There was someone else in the room, though they weren't moving and barely seemed to be breathing. Her head throbbed. Whatever they'd drugged her with left a nasty hangover._

_"You're awake," came the relic disguised voice. Part of her felt like she could filter it back to normal if she could only concentrate._

_Maya didn't bother pretending otherwise. When she lifted her head, the Rogue Knight had his arms crossed, head tilted, like she was some kind of thrilling puzzle._

_"Hope I didn't keep you long," she rasped._

_Her body was too sluggish to move with any accuracy, so she composed herself in the most dignified way she could while remaining seated, shoulders square, ankles crossed, arms resting in her lap. She allowed herself the concession of rolling her neck to crack it, never taking her eyes off him._

_"Only about seventeen hours at first. You should have been out for days."_

_Seventeen hours? God, that meant it was already mid-afternoon. Would people even be looking for her yet? She'd told them all she was going to hermit herself for a few days after Pa left._

_"We had to re-dose you several times."_

_Oh. That was…. Oh._

_"How long?" she asked, not really expecting an answer. She didn't know how reciprocity worked into an interrogation, if they'd answer her questions in exchange for their answers. She didn't know what they wanted. She didn't even know if it was an interrogation._

_"A little more than a week."_

_"A week…"_

_"We had a long way to travel."_

_He kicked over the only other chair in the room and settled in across from her. Gods, but he was so still, breathing barely a whisper, movements fluid and unwasted._

_"I knew there was something special about you."_

_Maya didn't say anything._

_"Let me help you."_

_She scoffed, "you hijacked an AI and tried to kill me."_

_"You could have stopped me," he said and gestured to her lap. Her cuff was gone, and the angle of her wrist showed off the barrier rune there. It was an effort not to move, not to hide it away from him._

_"I didn't have to."_

_Warm laughter spilled from him, which puzzled Maya and set the hairs on the back of her neck standing._

_"The Storm Knight. Hidden away in quaint little Portia. What a small world."_

_"Someone will come."_

_"With what army?"_

_That had Maya grinding her teeth._

_"What do you want?"_

_"Nothing for now," he said, and stood to leave. "I wish them luck, for what it's worth. You are so very precious."_

_The heavy metal door thunked as it locked behind him._

***

“Where are we going?” 

He caught her under the arms when she stumbled and she leaned against his side, winded. If it weren’t for Aadit, she’d have to ride in one of the horrible jerking truck beds and that made her feel even more nauseous. 

He stopped and pulled off one gauntlet to swipe a hand across her forehead under her hair, then down to cup her cheek so he could peer into her eyes. She leaned into his hand, comforted by the concern on his frowning face. 

“The Alliance Council asked for your help with a ruin, remember? We’re in the Peripheries. That’s why we have this escort,” he explained, waving at the guards around them. Maya blinked.

Why would she agree to something like that? She didn't think she liked ruin diving, and why would she drag poor Aadit out with her?

“I don’t remember,” she complained. 

“Darling,” he whispered, “maybe we should head back.”

“No,” she whined, “I’m okay, right? This is important?”

“It’s important.”

Ursula came trotting over and Aadit set her down on a rock to confer with the pale haired woman. They walked far enough away that Maya wasn’t interested in trying to listen into their conversation. She lifted the mask and pushed it on top of her head covering her mouth and nose with her sleeve to block out some of the dust, but able to breathe more easily. 

Aadit had found her a hat and a set of red lensed goggles to wear since it was getting colder the further they made it into the Peripheries. Being from the desert wasn’t doing her any favors. Even in the winter in Portia, she didn’t remember ever being as cold.

Wait, Portia?

Her father had lived in Portia for a while. Had she ever visited him there?

She frowned and looked over to find Aadit watching her. He shook his head and pointed to her mask, and she sighed as she pulled it back down over her face.

“Darling,” he scolded when they made it back to her.

“I'm sorry.”

“Is she getting worse?” Ursula asked. He tilted his head at her, and she raised her hands and backed off.

“Come on,” Aadit said, offering her one of the gauntlet covered hands, “we need to keep moving.”

***

"Why are you doing this to me?" she shrieked and kicked out at the doctor nearest her. The air above the makeshift desk she was propped against shimmered for a moment before the whole thing went up in flames.

Maya didn't know why she didn't move away, but the fire never touched her.

Eventually the commotion in the tent summoned Aadit, who stood in the flap for a moment before he grabbed the fire extinguisher and made his way over. 

"Can you put that out?"

"No," she pouted.

"Darling."

"I don't know _how,"_ she whined. 

"Try," he suggested, watching her with a calm and amused expression. Maya crossed her arms over her chest and turned to glare at the desk, willing away the fire until just the charred table was left. 

He set the fire extinguisher down and knelt in front of her. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at the blood dripping from her nose. 

"Now, what happened?"

Maya blinked at him. She was certain he hadn't been there a moment ago. The doctors were getting ready to take a blood sample, weren't they?

"I don't remember."

He nodded like that was the answer he expected. 

"At least it wasn't another earthquake," she heard one of the other men say.

"Or tornado," another agreed. 

"Back to work," Aadit snapped. It made her heart drop to hear him yell. She hated when he was angry. 

"Sir, we still need a blood sample."

"Darling, are you feeling up for that?"

Maya considered. Her body felt wrong, like she had heartburn or had eaten sand.

"I'm tired," she complained. Aadit offered her his hand to help her to her feet.

"Sir-"

"Later," he hissed, and gestured to the fire extinguisher, "this is why you had those fire safety classes, people."

Outside he shifted her dust mask down over her nose and she closed her eyes and leaned against him. She _was_ tired. 

"Can we take a nap?"

He leaned in to kiss her forehead before he collected her off her feet. She sighed and pressed her cheek against his sweater. Days when they made camp, he usually discarded the armor and walked around in more casual clothing. Maya preferred those days. 

"Of course, darling."

"Why do you baby her?" she heard Ursula ask.

"In sickness and in health."

"She doesn't remember," Ursula scoffed. Aadit hummed and bounced her for a better grip. It jostled her enough that she blinked her eyes at him. 

"Go back to sleep, darling."

Maya yawned and closed her eyes again, the gentle rhythm of Aadit's steps enough for her to fall into a light doze.

"She does remember we’re married. Perhaps the specific moments of the day escape her, but she remembers that much. It’s enough that she listens to me."

"Usually."

"Usually is enough. Those other moments pass."

***

_He didn't come again for many days. She thought it was many days. They never turned the lights out, never brought her a blanket for the tiny cot, fed her small meals so infrequently it felt like she was starving before the next came. She was out of her mind with fear and boredom, cranky from hunger and cold and lack of sleep when he sauntered into the room again._

_"How did you stop the All Source?"_

_"I don't know."_

_"How do the runes work?"_

_"I don't know."_

_He didn't sit, and she didn't move from where she was huddled in the corner._

_"We could let you go if you'd help us."_

_"You could, but would you?"_

_"No," he confirmed._

_***_

"How long are you going to keep fighting me, darling?"

"Why are you making me do this?" she sobbed, clinging to his shirt, "I want to go home. I just want to go home."

***

Aadit put her to bed and then left for a meeting, but Maya couldn’t sleep without him nearby so she left her mask on the pillow and slipped out of the back of the tent. The rocks were jagged and cut her feet while she snuck across them, but she had to get away and there wasn't time to get dressed. 

She didn't know what she was doing.

She remembered fields of grass and someone pulling her up a steep hill. She remembered trees taller than any building. She remembered a yellow dress, and a man telling her he's proud. She remembered a red coat, a checkered shirt, lightning. 

She didn't know what she remembered.

It felt like something was pulling her, like there was something she needed and it was away from wherever they were going. 

She didn't know where they were going. She didn't know where they'd come from. 

The dust in the air made the moonlight dim, and before long she grew tired and winded and had to sit. 

Coughing meant noise and noise meant monsters, but once she started she couldn't stop. The first one tackled her, all teeth and claws, and she felt something familiar bubble under her skin, if she could only reach it.

The creature above her was cut in half, the blood spraying her face. Aadit slashed through the others and turned to her.

He was angry. 

"Get away from me!" she screamed, confused, because Aadit didn't fight, he hated violence.

"Who are you!"

She turned and ran, but didn't get far. He caught her with an arm around her middle. She dug her fingers into a break in his gauntlet and the world lit up with electricity, sparks everywhere and lightning jumping over her skin. He let her go with a yell and she took off again.

The same trick didn't work when he tackled her, she was too tired, and he jabbed something into her neck and slipped the dust mask back over her face. 

She grew heavy and the world got fuzzy. 

"Darling," he scolded, so gentle when he picked her up out of the gravel. 

"Where are we?" she slurred, cheek mashed against cold metal. She was so cold. Everything was so cold. 

"You got confused and wandered off."

"I don't remember," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright. You're fine now. You just need to rest."

"Will you read to me?"

He chuckled, and the sound made her feel warm and safe.

"After we see the doctors."

***

_"Show me," he invited._

_"You've seen it," she glared. He'd woken her from a nice dream. For some reason she'd challenged Tody to a fish off, and the lonely man had laughed and pulled something from the water that barely fit on the beach._

_"Only in combat."_

_Maya huffed, grouchy, and flicked her hand at him. The rune there barely tingled, the air between them shimmering but not electric. The Knight pressed his palm against the curve of it, head tilted, and then sent a fist right through. It pinched at her head as it broke, but otherwise she felt nothing._

_"You can do better."_

_"How? You're keeping me drugged. I can't feel my brain anymore. WHAT DO YOU WANT!" she screamed in frustration. Goggled eyes watched her for a moment, before he turned and left._

***

The next day she was too sick to do anything but lay on the ground. Standing made her sick. Aadit carrying her made her sick. 

It would have been a kindness if they left her to die. 

"What's wrong with her?"

"You overdosed her. That injection is supposed to be for emergencies."

"Do you see what she did to my arm?" she heard Aadit demand. 

"We can't do anything but wait."

***

They let her ride in the cab of a truck because she'd torn up her feet wandering and couldn't walk. The driver was nice and gave her a blanket and something warm in an old thermos, so she tried to listen when he was making small talk but the words couldn't make it through the fog in her brain. 

Riding in the cab was better. Not as jerky. She didn't feel as sick. 

They stopped for a break, or to change another tire or something, and Aadit opened the door she was slumped against. She blinked to find herself on the ground in his lap while he checked her pulse. 

"The driver is nice," she told him. 

"He's been with us a long time."

"Did I meet him before?"

"A few times," he confirmed absently, waving to Ursula. Whatever conversation they had was too fast and too low to get through her brain. 

"Hey, what happened to your arm?"

The metal of his gauntlet was blackened, the arm underneath angry and burned. She touched him and thought soothing thoughts, imagining she could feel the skin smoothing. When he tilted her back to kiss her, she pushed his hood away and pulled his hair, remembering autumn leaves and the smell of cinnamon. 

"I got a little shocked," he said after. 

"You have to be more careful," she scolded, "what would I do without you?"

"What indeed."

After he stood and bundled her back into the truck, she caught his arm before he could close the door. 

"You know I love you, right?"

He leaned in to kiss her forehead.

"I love you, too," he promised.

***

She punched a soldier in the throat and stole his weapon. 

The sword felt wrong. Unbalanced. Balance was important. 

She needed to defend herself. 

The man she'd hit was watching her with his hands up. The noise around her increased to nearly unbearable levels. So many people shouting. 

"Put it down," Ursula demanded. Maya whirled and held the blade between then, the pale haired woman twirling her cane. 

Had she fought Ursula before?

Maya lunged and then dodged to the side. She was clumsy and uncoordinated, and Ursula was fast, but Maya knew how to use a sword. She had trained. Someone had trained her.

She knocked the cane from Ursula's hand.

"Stand down, Everglade," Aadit insisted, breaking through the circle of people gathered around them. 

"She's dangerous."

"Darling, are you dangerous? Put that away now," he requested. Maya let the sword clatter from her hands. 

"You should keep a leash on her."

( _"Keep your fantasies to yourself.")_

"I don't think that's necessary. People need to remember to treat her with the respect she deserves."

"She acts like a wild animal, sometimes."

"Remember who you’re talking to. She is _my wife."_

Ursula collected her cane from the ground and stormed off. 

"My head hurts," Maya complained. 

***

_The next time he came, Maya had lost track of naps and thoughts and meals. She hadn't eaten the last four, too despondent and cold and tired to care. They sat by the door, long grown cold and congealed._

_She was embarrassed that he found her crying, embarrassed when he lifted her off the floor and curled around her in the chair, embarrassed when he steadied her in the other seat and wiped at the tears and snot on her face._

_"How would your husband feel, to see you like this?" he asked._

_"What have you done to him!" she screamed, and threw herself to her feet. He let her beat uselessly at his armored chest, until she tired and collapsed into a heap on the floor. Once again he lifted her like she was nothing and settled her across from him._

_"But darling," he said, and pulled at the straps on his mask, voice losing the distortion. "I haven't done anything to him."_

_Her skin went hot and then cold, mind numb, black crawling up the edges of her vision._

_"Of course," she said mournfully, and forced herself to meet Aadit's eyes before the dark overtook her vision._

_"Of course."_

***

She jerked awake and rolled off of the mat. Aadit sat up like a shot, eyes zeroed in on her in a heartbeat. She stared at him, wide eyed and bewildered, his armor propped beside him but the Rogue Knight clothing recognizable without it. She couldn't calm her breathing, couldn't think for her heart beating so fast, sat there shaking on the ground while he crawled toward her. 

"What's wrong?" he asked, tugging her toward him. She couldn't breathe. There wasn't any air. She couldn't _breathe._

"Alright, darling. Slow. With me, okay? In and out. Slow," he said, rubbing a hand on her back. "It was just a bad dream."

"I think I'm gonna throw up," she moaned, and found herself outside the tent retching, Aadit holding her up so she wouldn't collapse. Eventually she straightened, but had to hold his shirt to stay steady. 

"Better?"

No. _Not_ better. The dream was so real. A horrible nightmare.

"Yeah. I'm sorry."

"You haven't had one of those in a while," he said, cupping her face.

"I don't even remember."

"For the best. Come on. Back to bed. You need to rest."

She let him lead her back inside and settled on the bed.

"Will you read to me?"

He laughed.

"Of course, darling."

***

"When can we go home?"

Aadit offered her a hand to help her over a large rock. 

"What's that, darling?"

She didn't know where home was. She felt like Aadit hated the heat, but Barnarock was all she remembered. Maybe she had been traveling when they met. 

"I miss the sun."

"When we're done here we can go anywhere you like," he promised. 

***

There was a storm building, and that was as beneficial as it was not. In the Peripheries they were dangerous. They packed the dust down, made it easier for Maya to breathe, but they also brought wild lighting and wind and rain so hard it could sweep the trucks off the road. The caravan had stopped at the first sign of it on the horizon to pitch the tents and hunker down for as long as it lasted. 

It could be days.

For the moment Maya was seated cross legged near the tent door with the flaps open to watch it roll across the sky toward them. She could feel it in the air like static and anticipation and longing, and her fingers twitched at the first crack of lightning. 

"Keep that from hitting camp, if you can," Aadit requested from the bed where he was reading reports. 

"Should I make the storm go away?"

He was still for a long moment and then she heard the rustle of paper before he appeared in her peripheral vision. 

"Can you do that?" he asked while he settled to sit beside her. 

"Maybe. I think so. I can kind of feel it? Heavy and buzzing like white noise?"

She shivered at the gentle hand he ran up her arm and across the back of her neck. 

"I'll be happy if the lightning doesn't disable any more trucks," he decided. "Besides, we could use a break."

"Yeah."

"But if you're bored, I can think of a few other ways to pass the time," he offered. 

"Oh?"

"Come to bed."

***

The monsters in the Peripheries were as varied and terrifying as they could be _huge._ Usually the soldiers dealt with them before Maya even realized what had happened, but sometimes she'd blink and find herself looking up at something that shouldn't be real.

"Whoa, hey there."

She had questions. So many questions. Questions like, wasn't it too cold for snakes ( _"I had to make a mean look at them")?_ How did it get that size? What did it even eat?

Besides engine blocks and the poor soldiers who happened to be driving the truck at the time. 

Maya held her hands up above her head and met the eyes of the huge basilisk looking down on them. The soldiers flanking her all had guns, but they seemed sort of too terrified to move. 

She didn't know where Aadit was, but she'd feel safer if he were at her back. 

"Listen, are we hassling you?" she asked. She turned just slightly to look at one of the men to her side. The look he gave her was wide eyed and like she was crazy, but it wasn't like Maya had never seen that look before, "are we hassling this nice lady? Guys, everyone put your guns away, let's talk about this."

How had she even ended up there? Hadn't she been sleeping?

The snake swung its tail and lowered its giant head closer to the ground. Maya was not incredibly comfortable having a mouth that could swallow her with no difficulty that close to her person. She was also not comfortable with the tongue that flicked out to taste the air around her. 

( _"_ _They like you too. It's probably your magic. It hums.")_

"I'm sorry. We didn't know this building was already occupied," she explained, "and we would really just like to get out of your territory before anyone gets hurt."

The giant head swiveled to the side and Maya followed the sightline to the collapsed remains of the truck. 

Right. 

"Right, so honestly? I have no idea who that guy was and I doubt that engine will agree with you, so I think we can call this a wash?"

The tongue came out again to taste the air around her before the snake started moving, it's giant head coming around and separating her from the rest of her companions, body curling around her while it turned around back into the ruin.

For a terrifying minute Maya watched the snake slide around her, afraid that at any second it would crush her or the soldiers would start shooting and upset it and _then_ it would crush her. 

And then it was gone. 

"Oh man."

"Darling," Aadit sighed. She spun around feeling light headed and fell to the ground. 

"Oh, hey. Where have you been?"

"I had a meeting. You are supposed to be sleeping."

"I was sleeping. I don't know how I got here."

"I guess we have to move camp," he commented. He lifted her from the ground.

"I mean, she seemed like a nice lady, but yeah."

She found herself passed off to another soldier while Aadit walked away shouting orders, until eventually she ended up sitting on a rock with Ursula babysitting her.

“How are you feeling?” Ursula asked, bending down to peer into her eyes. Instead of answering she leaned over between her knees and puked.

“Okay,” the other woman said, rubbing her back, “let me go get the doctors.”

***

"Do you want to tell me why you aren't taking your meds?" Aadit invited, joining her on the rock where she was seated. 

She couldn't help the way that she tensed a little, but she figured she _was_ guilty. 

She had expected him to notice at some point, but that it had taken a whole week was a testament to her acting skills. 

"They make me feel so fuzzy," she whined, "and I feel _better."_

"Darling," he sighed. She caught his arm in her hands and turned to him. 

"Please? What if I'm better? Can we at least have the doctors _check?"_ she plead. She remembered them telling her she was sick, some lingering virus, and that was why she had to take the pills. He regarded her for a moment and she was careful to meet his eyes and keep her expression hopeful. 

"I'll go talk to them. You should try and get some rest," he said and offered her a hand. She took it and let him pull her to her feet, crowded against him before he could leave and turned her face up for a kiss, which he gave her, teeth dragging along her lip.

"Go back to the tent," he told her, and she nodded and turned away. 

The doctors were clustered not far from where their tent was and with her brain working she could hear them. She felt a weird sort of satisfaction that Aadit didn't know _that._

"I suppose it is possible," one of them mused. 

"She's been having fewer episodes-"

"Odd. I wonder if it was interfering with-"

"-do you think-"

"Gentleman," Aadit commanded. 

"It's in our favor anyway if she's having fewer episodes. She's burned a lot of field notes, and _you_ can't take anymore jolts like the one she gave you."

"Is she remembering?" 

"She doesn't seem to be, no." 

Which was true. She _couldn't_ remember. She had flashes of memory, felt a weird yearning twisted inside her gut like a part of her was far away, knew that Aadit wasn't who she thought he was. She knew they _weren't_ with the Alliance Guard, but she couldn't remember why that was important or why he would lie about it. 

"Leave her," they concluded, and Maya shimmied in joy before she quickly got under the blankets and picked up a random book.

"You should be sleeping," Aadit sighed when he walked back into the tent. She help up the book to him.

"What did they say?"

When he settled down next to her she curled under his arm and put her head on his chest. Whatever he was or wasn't, she felt safe tucked against him. 

"They think it's probably fine, if you aren't showing symptoms anymore," he said, and cracked open the book. 

***

_She remembered a man in a red coat. In her dream he always turned away from her, no matter how she tried to catch a glimpse of his face._

***

Off the medication she was able to ride in the caravan without issue, which made Ursula ( _Everglade, her memory supplied)_ happier. 

Miles and miles of terrain. The jagged rock and dust and dull sky seemed like they never changed.

_(A big room, a green haired man, and Everglade jumping off the edge of the platform.)_

She didn't tell anyone that it felt like reality was slipping. Sometimes it felt like she was peering into another dimension full of people she knew but had never met.

"Where are we going?" Maya asked, bundled up in her coat and mask and goggles, clinging to Aadit's gauntlet in the truck bed. 

"A ruin."

"Oh. Why?"

She didn't think she liked ruins. Something about rats. Or maybe that was her imagination. Maybe she was going crazy.

"You promised to help them open it."

"How am I supposed to do that?"

Aadit laughed and tangled metal fingers in her hair for a kiss. 

***

_"Hey Sam."_

_Maya nudged the ward so Sam could hop over the fence. It was late, or early, the Civil Corps woman must have had the night patrol._

_"Hey, kid. Whatcha working on?"_

_"A &G are building a lighthouse. Which means Albert has me, you know, building the lighthouse." _

_The other woman laughed and came over to examine the sheets of strengthened glass she was sliding into place._

_"Aren't you supposed to be a newlywed? What are you doing working?"_

_"He's sleeping."_

_"Damn, wore him out already?"_

_"Spirit versus flesh or something. Anyway, he's gotta go back to work tomorrow and he likes to get up early and go for a walk."_

_The dream twisted. Maya blinked. Her heart felt heavy looking around a dark yard that she didn't know, but was hers._

_"Hey, Sam?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"How long have I been missing?"_

_Sam came over and caught her in a crushing hug._

_"Almost three months, kid. Since the end of autumn."_

*** 

"But Aadit," she whined.

_("But Arlo."_

_"No, Maya, I just got back from exploring ruins."_

_"But we've never been on an adventure together."_

_"You just want me to come kill rats for you."_

_"Yes. That's true. But I feel like you owe me. I helped out Sam_ and _Nora while you were gone."_

_"Fine. Let's go. It'll be faster to get the damn air conditioner than it would be to keep arguing with you.")_

"Darling?" Aadit asked. At some point he'd caught her shoulders and was bent down to look in her face. She blinked at him. 

"I'm sorry, what was I saying?"

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked. He pulled the gauntlet from his hand to press his fingers against her forehead.

"Yeah. I think so? Are we gonna be there soon?"

"Ursula thinks we'll be at the coordinates tomorrow."

***

She scratched at the tattoo on her wrist, trying to remember why it was important.

***

_"You're father-"_

_"Not my father."_

_"-seemed pretty angry when he left. Presley came to talk to us about some of the things he was saying last night. We'd feel better if you came to stay at HQ for a while."_

_"I'm safer at home with the wards. He can't get in."_

***

The atrium they entered was weird, all metal and vaulted ceilings and huge tanks of water on opposite walls that she thought might once have held fish. The far wall had a tall door flanked by turrets.

It seemed a lot cleaner inside than it had outside, like the outer shell of the building had been destroyed but the inner walls were made of something stronger. 

She couldn't figure out what Aadit and Ursula would want with this place. It wasn't even that big. 

_Visual identification: Confirmed_

_Welcome back: Maya_

Something about the greeting made her feel the weirdest sense of deja vu.

The whole room full of people stilled when the voice piped in through the speakers. Everglade seemed like the only one not surprised, the other woman standing right beside her and gripping her arm, though Aadit was watching her with a raised eyebrow. She didn't know what he wanted, but he gestured for her to 'carry on.'

He had been cranky all morning, tense and snappish. 

_(She remembered a Knight in Aadit's clothes standing on top of a towering AI.)_

"Oh. Uh, thank you?"

_Of course. It appears you are with some unauthorized personnel. Would you like to add them as members of your security team?_

_(She remembered Council Guardsmen in a cell.)_

Maya glanced around. The grip Everglade had on her arm tightened just slightly, the woman with a little grin on her face. 

"What does that mean?" 

_They would have access to come and go from the facility._

Is that why they dragged her all the way out here? To talk to a computer? That didn't make sense, there had to be more to it.

"And what kind of facility is this?"

_Weapons research, development, and testing._

That didn't sound good. Why would Aadit agree to that? He hated dangerous relics, didn't he?

But he carried that sword. But he used that sword.

_(She remembered the Rogue Knight throwing Remington across the plaza. She remembered a man in a red coat.)_

_(She remembered that she didn't know where she was or how she'd gotten there.)_

_(She remembered Aadit trying to kill her.)_

Nothing about it was right. Reality was slipping. She was afraid of everyone around her.

"No, this isn't my security team. I'm pretty sure these people kidnapped me," Maya claimed, heart in her throat, and swept out a leg to knock down Everglade. She didn't know where she'd learned that move, but she was glad to have it. 

_I will remove them._

"Maya!"

Aadit was livid. 

The room flooded with bots and the room fell into anarchy, the huge turrets on the wall twisting to life.

_If you would please proceed to safety._

"The doors," she yelled, sprinting across the atrium, trying to keep in a straight line so the turrets wouldn't hit her, "the doors please!"

The doors split just enough for her to slip through.

"Close, close, close."

Aadit was watching her through the gap, and Maya saw him slip his full mask over his face before he turned away to slash through half the bots.

"Oh, shit."

The metal was cool against her face when she leaned against it. What had she done? 

_Your vitals appear elevated outside of a safe range._

"Yeah, that's what a panic attack looks like."

Something slammed against the other side of the door and a horrible screeching sound vibrated through the metal. 

"Is this gonna hold?"

_The available Atrium defenses have been dismantled. I estimate the door will hold for another 3 minutes, 41 seconds._

"That's not a lot of time," Maya protested. 

_If you would proceed into the facility, I can close additional blast doors behind you._

"Is there another way out?"

_All other access points were destroyed._

"Not great. Okay," Maya said, pushing away from the door and sprinting down the hall. The facility was a maze of white and metal hallways, unmarked and constantly intersecting. She would have been lost immediately if it weren't for the AI guiding her.

_Who is the man pursuing you?_

"That's my husband," Maya answered, winded, as a second set of doors locked into place behind her. Thank the Gods she wasn't claustrophobic, because the AI urged her into an elevator.

_He is very destructive._

Maya had no idea an AI could sound so reproachful. 

"Yeah, I think I need a divorce. Where are we going?"

_Sub-basement levels have greater containment protocols._

Music piped through the little speakers above her, tinny and kind of annoying. She leaned against the elevator wall when the ride continued and continued and then continued. 

What a mess. 

Why had they even brought her, if Aadit could just tear through the building? Her head hurt. She couldn't remember. There wasn't anything special about her. What the hell was going on? 

She couldn't _remember._

"There isn't another way down, is there?"

_I have sealed the stairwells, but they will not hold._

"What am I gonna do?"

_There are weapons available for you. Created for only you._

So she'd be able to defend herself. Could she hold her own against him? She felt like she'd… wait.

" _What?"_

_I will explain in a moment. Please proceed down the hall to the left._

She made it down another set of hallways and then through a lab and out the other side. 

"Who _are_ you?"

_I am an iteration of All Source. I was installed to lead research at this facility._

"All Source?" 

The world swam in and out of focus and she hit the wall before she caught herself. 

( _"She will be pleased to see you again.")_

_("Isn't that some kind of AI?"_

_"A pretty powerful one.")_

Her skull was going to break open. She felt shaky and feverish. Too much. It was too much. She sank to her knees on the metal floor clutching at her head, covering her ears. She was a dam holding up a great ocean, cracked and leaking and so close to failure.

_You have to hurry. Maya, get up. He's in the stairwell._

She sucked down her panic and wiped at her nose while she climbed to her feet, hand coming away wet and red, feeling old and tired. The fingers she trailed along the wall left her blood behind to mark the way. 

The last corridor the AI directed her to was a long, long tunnel made of metal and etched all the way down with runes, some of which she knew and most of which she didn't. It radiated power, holding back tons and tons of dirt and stone above. The runes lit up around her while she trudged forward.

"What are all of these?"

_The last great scientific discovery before war broke the world._

"This is magic, not science."

_It may seem that way. This power makes up the universe. This facility was designed to research and harness these symbols, though the weapons created couldn't be used by most. Very few possessed the ability to even understand them. When it became apparent that an ordinary human couldn't harness the power, I was tasked with designing one that could._

"You designed a _person?"_

_Yes. Created using this same power. And then you were in stasis for over 300 years._

"What?" she whispered.

_My sweet girl. It broke me to see you so alone. One day a woman wandered into my facility and I released you to her care._

( _"_ _She found me."_

_"What do you mean, she found you?")_

There was too much noise in her head. 

"300 years?"

A deep chuckle came down the tunnel.

"I knew you were special," Aadit said with the Rogue Knight's voice, stalking toward her. The runes went dark behind him, and Maya felt the magic crumble. The tunnel shook.

"Can you give me a minute? I'm having a crisis."

He removed his mask and caught her face to press a kiss to her forehead. Maya shook him off and stepped away, but he grabbed the back of her head and plugged her nose until she had to open her mouth. She recognized the taste of the pills he shoved between her teeth and she struggled against him, but had to swallow before he removed his hand.

"Of course, darling. Take your time. But maybe we should proceed before this caves in. All Source, the door please?"

He led her the rest of the way down the tunnel, the far end just starting to collapse, with a hand on her back and one gripping her elbow.

"I can't handle your mood swings," she told him conversationally. She couldn't get her arm back. 

"I'm quite angry. A lot of good people are dead because of you."

"You kidnapped me."

"Did I?" he asked. Maya didn't like the amusement in his voice. "Do you remember that? From where, darling? Where did you come from?"

"Barnarock?"

"In the desert?"

Aadit hated the desert. She knew that. It had been bothering her for a while. How could he have found her, out there in the heat and the sand?

"There are records of this place," he told her, sweeping a hand around the massive room on the other side of the door. It was so huge they could have been outside in the night, the ceiling was so far above Maya couldn't even _see_ it. 

Rising up in the middle was the biggest robot she'd ever imagined. Bigger than she'd ever even dreamed. It looked like a machine of war, terrifying and dark. 

She bet that thing had laser eyes. 

"Whoever has this would be unstoppable. I was hoping the All Source we dug up could tell us where this facility was. Thankfully your father-"

"Not my father."

"-was most helpful with those coordinates."

"I won't help you."

"You will. Just give it a few moments," he promised. Her vision was already getting twisty, heavy fog settling into her brain. 

_Humans can't be hacked._

"Oh, but they can. All it takes is a little love, and a few experimental drugs."

Right. Not sick. She had never really been sick. 

She leaned over the railing and puked.

"Drugged people can't consent. I don't consent."

"I don't need consent, darling. I need obedience. Turn it on. We're going to rule the world."

She reached out a hand and put it on the console. 

She didn't know what she was doing. 

What did Aadit even want with a giant robot? He was afraid of dangerous relics. 

She didn't think she wanted to rule the world.

It came alive with a horrible trumpeting sound, power cycling over and gears connecting. When it shifted an age of dust fell away and the room shook. 

She coughed and Aadit came over to put a mask over her nose and goggles over her eyes. The world went red.

She remembered a man in a red coat.

_Maya, sweet girl, you don't have-_

"THAT'S ENOUGH," Aadit demanded. 

_("I know what it's like to leave part of yourself behind after a fight.")_

_("You pinky promise?"_

_"On my honor as a Knight.")_

_("Alright, baby girl.")_

_("I can't think of anyone else who would have done that."_

_"Sonia would have gotten around to it.")_

_("-enough of a man to know when he's beaten.")_

_("Baby girl."_

_"No, Django.")_

_("What the hell is going on?")_

Where was she? Hadn't see just been talking to someone? The world wasn't right. She didn't feel right.

"Mom?" Maya croaked. She was so tired. It was so cold.

_Yes?_

"How do we get out of here?"

She didn't know what she was saying. She didn't know why Aadit was laughing.

_I don't know._

"Can you bring down the building or something?"

"Do not!" Aadit yelled, stomping over.

_...yes._

"I think you should do that," she said, kicking out at her husband. He pulled his sword and slashed across her, and she fell away clutching her stomach. He caught her hair and yanked her head back to hiss in her face. The great machine behind them moved with her when she grabbed his shirt, and smashed half the platform.

_I'll need authorization._

"Where is your Knight to save you now?"

Maya coughed, clutching her midsection.

"I thought that was meant to be you."

"Oh, darling, it could have been."

She remembered when he was kind. She remembered when she knew he loved her. Was that real?

"Do it!"

_Beginning countdown._

He pulled her by her hair to the edge of the platform and tossed her like trash over the edge into the dark. She landed with a thud on a huge metal hand and she struggled to find a grip on the surface, fingers slick with her own blood.

_3._

_2._

The second hand came down on her, and Maya was convinced she was about to be smashed like a bug. It stopped short, hands cupped together with her inside so that she could barely hear the All Source.

_1._

Maya spun a barrier around herself in the dark, while the world collapsed.   


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, if I had known Aadit was going to be such a psychopath I would have written the beginning of this story way different. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading and continuing to read.


	11. After, Django

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not all of Maya makes it home. Not at first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy. Shit.
> 
> Guys. GUYS.

Django wasn't sure about the knocking on the door, couldn't tell if it was just the hurricane-like storm raging outside his house, until it came again. His heart clenched, because _no one_ should be outside in that, not even for an emergency, and he hurried down the steps to twist the knob. The wind almost yanked the door from his hand and it did push a trembling figure into the arm he instinctively raised to catch them. 

"Django," she whispered, so low he could barely hear for the rain, "help me."

He shouldered the door closed. 

He couldn't remember ever seeing Maya look so lost.

"Help me," she begged, and he caught her under her arms when she collapsed. 

"Django."

"Baby girl, I'm right here."

"Help me."

It was a year she'd been missing, a year since he'd pressed against her in the dark and reached out to connect that thing he could feel between them. A year since Sonia had come banging on his door with Sam and demanded to know if he'd seen her. 

She was small and soaked and shaking, huddled in his arms and whispering for him, coated in grime and Gods knew what else.

"I'm right here," he promised. She blinked at him then, eyes focusing for one moment of clarity, before she fell silent. 

He gathered her like she was nothing, Gods there was nothing left of her, carried her up the stairs to the bathroom and set her down in the tub. She was clothed in layers and layers of rags, all soaked through and like plaster for him to dig through, wincing when he revealed a bruised collarbone and the sharp ridges of her spine and the gash across her stomach, barely healed, the scar red and angry. 

"What happened to you?" he asked. She did nothing but fix him with a miserable look when he plugged the drain and turned on the water. 

"Maya," he said, "baby girl, what _happened_?"

Her face just collapsed and it was the most heartbreaking thing he'd ever seen. She sobbed into her hands while he pulled a cloth along her back, didn't stop when he worked his fingers to her scalp and detangled her hair, nor when he wrapped her in a towel and carried her from the bathroom.

He put her in his bed, dressed in shorts and a checkered shirt, and her fingernails dug into his hand while she clung to him, even long after she closed her eyes and her breathing slowed.

***

In the morning when he woke with his head pressed into the mattress and a terrible crick in his neck she was still holding his hand, watching him from the pillow, and the storm had broken. 

***

"Fuck," Xu hissed. Django didn't think he'd ever heard the other man curse. Maya lowered her arms protectively over her stomach.

"What's wrong, doc?"

"This should have had stitches," he sighed and poked at her arms so they could see the scar again, "Maya how deep was this?"

She wobbled her hand to indicate "so-so." She hadn't spoken since the night before and it was wearing Django down to interpret her increasingly lethargic responses. 

"Baby girl, can you show him your collar bone?"

Maya shrugged and started to pull her arm out of the sleeve of the shirt he'd put her in the night before. There wasn't anything sexual about the move, he had undressed her far more than that the night before, but Django quickly turned his back and Xu coughed and adjusted the privacy screen. 

"Wow. Okay, it doesn't feel broken, but I'd been feel better if we could get an x-ray of this. Hopefully Phyllis will be back soon. I'm not sure what's taking her so long, the Civil Corps are _right there."_

"Well, Dr. Xu," the woman in question stated, clicking into the clinic with the whole of the Civil Corps plus Mali behind her, "Sam let me raid her wardrobe for a few things. Nothing of mine will fit her."

Django scrubbed a hand over his face when Maya stepped out from behind the screen, thankfully with the shirt back on. 

"Careful," he cautioned, when Sam rushed over to pull her into a hug. 

"Holy shit, I didn't think Phyllis would lie to me but I didn't… oh my God, Maya, we've been so worried," she said. It was the closest Django had ever heard the Civil Corps woman to tears. Usually she projected such a tough, roll-with-it attitude.

"What happened?" Arlo asked. Django shook his head. 

"She showed up at my door last night in the storm asking for help, but she hasn't said anything since. I don't know."

Maya grabbed at Mali's sleeve and pulled the other woman to the counter, where she grabbed a pen and pushed aside the folders and paperwork to find something to write on. 

"Here," Remington told her, pulling a notebook from his pocket. 

_Kidnapped,_ she wrote. The writing was barely legible, she was shaking and seemed to have trouble gripping the pen. Then she scrawled a set of coordinates and shoved the paper in the hands of the Flying Pigs woman. 

She dropped the pen and looked at her hands like she had no idea what they were.

"Who kidnapped you?" Remington asked. She shook her head and sank to the floor, crying again.

Django didn't know how someone so strong could be so fragile and broken.

***

Mali stopped by his house early in the morning a few days later. He knew someone was coming because Maya had set down the spoon she was clumsily using to mix pancake batter and stood to watch the door. 

"Those coordinates she gave me are in the Peripheries. Far into the Peripheries," she explained, unwinding her scarf and hanging it on the peg by the door next to the coat she shed, "it'll take me a few weeks to even get out there."

Maya fumbled for the little chalkboard that Phyllis had found her, struggling with one arm in a sling, and gripped the chalk poorly to scratch something out. 

_Take team. Dangerous. Leave snake alone. Nice lady._

Django translated the scrawl. He was getting better at reading her handwriting. Mali frowned.

"Anything else?"

Maya jabbed a finger into the board.

"Leave the snake alone?"

The younger woman nodded, satisfied, and dragged her sleeve across the slate to clear it so she could write again. 

_Robot dark. Mine. Leave._

"What kind of robot?"

Maya jabbed at the board again and cleared the slate.

_Underground._

"Maya, that doesn't help me," Mali pled. Maya opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but closed it again. She turned the board over to look at what she'd written like she couldn't quite remember the whole conversation. 

That happened a lot. Sometimes she'd be in the middle of doing something and then pause like she had no idea where she was. Usually Django corralled her with no trouble, but sometimes he would try and nudge her back to her task and she would break down into tears. 

Once he had caught her around her stomach when she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and nearly wandered into the Peach Plaza fountain, and she had reacted by digging her fingers into his wrist and trying to shock him. 

Django was shockproof so it didn't bother him, but she'd spent a good twenty minutes afterward hyperventilating. 

"Baby girl," Django said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She tilted her head up to regard him. "Mali is going to those coordinates you gave her. She is going to take a team, and leave the snake alone."

She nodded. Sometimes, he'd found, it helped to summarize the parts of the conversation they'd already had. 

_Red coat. Remembered red coat. Came home._

"Mali needs to know about those coordinates," he explained. She wrote those words, or a variation of those words, quite frequently. Every time Django felt something tug in his chest.

She blinked at the adventurer like she'd forgotten she was there. Maybe she had. She looked at the slate for a long moment and then cleared it away. 

"Do you want to know what we find?" Mali offered. Maya watched her. 

_Better to be sure._

"I guess we'll just go see what there is to see."

***

Django looked up from the bar when Presley walked into the restaurant and gave the other man half a smile. 

"How is she?"

He shook his head and shrugged in the direction of the corner they'd set up. Sonia was sitting next to her, talking low and soothing about something that Django couldn't make out, and Maya watched the other woman without any real expression on her face. 

Presley sighed. 

Django felt for the other man, but he was _trying._

They'd been up to the clinic several times to see Doctor Xu, and more than that so Phyllis could try talking to her. They'd been to see Arlo, to see Mali before she'd left for parts unknown, to see Sam and Remington. They stopped over at the flower shop to see Alice and Jack. Toby divided his mornings before school between practice and trying to tell her jokes. Oaks stopped by with more and more intricate carvings, which she lined up by the bed Django set up for her, and even Papa Bear had wandered into town to see her one day, startling everyone but the person he came to "aw" over. 

"I brought her another little project to work on."

"What have we got this time?" he asked, peering into the box of supplies.

"Just some crystal necklaces. You said she seemed to like that, last time."

"I'm sure she appreciates it, Pres," he said, offering whatever comfort he could. He'd seen firsthand the progression of that relationship, from stranger to friend to mentor to father figure. Presley came every day to chat with her.

"I hope it's helping. I'm just going to go sit with her, for a little bit."

Django sighed and looked over to find Maya watching him. He gave her a small smile, and for the briefest moment _something_ flickered across her face in response, but then she turned her face up to look at Presley as he approached.

"Hello, dear," he heard the other man greet. She closed her eyes when he bent to kiss her forehead, and Django watched for a moment before he turned back to his work.

***

"Come on, baby girl. Let's go home," he said and held out his hand for her. 

Sonia had left long before, her shift over, and it was just them in the restaurant when he decided to close down early. She placed all of her tools and materials back in the box and stood to walk over to put her hand in his. He helped her into her coat at the door, and then turned to lock it behind them. 

He reached over to adjust her collar, brushing off large snowflakes. She yawned and blinked at him. It had been a long day.

"Me too," he told her, and tucked her under his arm for the walk home. She walked with one arm around her stomach like it still pained her, and the other clinging to his hand at her shoulder.

***

He woke up and she was standing at the far side of his bed, her hands twisted in the hem of her shirt, watching him. 

"Nightmare?"

She nodded and sniffed, and Django lifted the blanket and held his arm out. She crawled across the bed, collapsed against his shoulder, and pressed her face into his chest before she started sobbing.

He sighed and curled around to hold her, legs tangled together under the blankets.

More frequently than not they end up like this, and Django wasn't sure how much more his heart could break. Sometimes her nightmares were loud, but frequently they woke her quietly to suffer on her own until she sought him out.

She drew a long breath, lips moving against his neck like she wanted to speak but didn't know how.

"I've got you," he whispered over and over, long after she stilled and drifted back off to sleep, "I've got you."

He woke again when she jolted upright. He caught her arms, sparking white, and shifted to hold her hands loosely so she wouldn't feel trapped. Her fingernails dug into his skin while she searched the dark corners, until she finally pressed back against his side and pulled the blanket over her head. 

***

"You know you're safe, right?" he overhead Sonia ask one afternoon. She smirked at him when he met her gaze, before she continued, "Django would never let anything happen. He won't ever let you go again."

"Sonia," he warned.

Maya flexed her fingers and reached for the little chalkboard. 

"Red coat. Came home," Sonia read aloud, for his benefit. 

***

Mali finally made it back near the end of winter. Maya sat next to her at the bar with Arlo on her other side.

"We didn't find much. That site was well and truly leveled. Can you tell me what it was even supposed to be?"

_Weapon research._

She turned to poke Arlo in his side.

_Remember? AI told us. File._

"Oh," the Captain said. And then, " _oh._ With Everglade?"

Maya nodded.

"Well, you could have warned me about that robot."

"What robot?"

"Arlo, you should have seen it. So tall it blocked out the sky. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it."

_Not sure can turn on again. Console buried. Nothing else?_

"Just a bunch of abandoned trucks. What were you hoping we'd find?" Mali questioned.

Maya shrugged and drummed her fingers on the bar, but Django watched some of the tension ease out of her frame.

***

He toweled off his hair and went downstairs, following the smell of baking pastry. Maya was kneeling in front of the oven, looking between the door and the small timer she had in her hands. 

"What are you up to, baby girl?"

She looked up at him on the stairs; opened her mouth as if to say something only to snap it shut and open it again. 

There was something simmering on the stove when he wandered over, and he moved to smell it before she shoved him away, pointing at the table and blocking him from view of whatever she was making. 

"I'm going," he promised, pausing to kiss the top of her head. She watched him like she was suspicious, until he sat down and put his hands up to show he wasn't planning anything.

"Your custard is going to get too hot," he warned.

Maya threw a spoon at him and moved it from the heat. 

Pinecock egg tarts were a favorite of his, but he had no idea where she'd found the recipe or why she was making them.

"Are you making dinner, too?" he asked. She blinked at him when the timer in her hand started going off, her expression all of a sudden confused. She looked around the kitchen.

"Oven," he reminded her. She nodded. Those episodes were becoming more infrequent and it was getting easier to put her back on track. Sometimes she went whole days without that lost look maring her expression.

"These are great," he assured her when she set the plate of tarts in front of him. She nodded and wandered off, returning with her chalkboard. 

_Ward door. Okay?_

"You want to, or you did?"

_Want._

Django leaned back in the chair and regarded her for a moment. He still didn't know what had happened to her, where she'd been or who had taken her. He had his suspicions, which the Civil Corps agreed with, but she wouldn't say. He was honestly surprised it had taken her so long to ask for more security. The runes she'd carved to ward her house were still strong, even more than a year without her around to reinforce them. 

"Anything you want, baby girl. Just remember that I live here, too."

 _Can get through,_ she pointed out. That made him laugh. She had never added him to the access line around her home, but they'd been down together to gather clothing for her. She had stood in the road, refused to cross into the workshop, but the wards tingled over his skin and allowed him to pass without her. 

"It's still nice to be remembered."

Maya shrugged and pulled her arm across the slate, hiding it from him for a moment while she wrote. 

_Sonia pregnant._

"What!?" he demanded. Oh, he was going to kill Albert. Maya shook her head.

_Might not know. Little._

"How do _you_ know?"

_See. Like magic. Building._

That was new. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"Is that why you made tarts?"

Maya threw her head back in silent laughter.

***

She appeared at the side of his bed, later that night, just as he was drifting off and he rolled to get a better look at her, standing there in his clothes because she refused to wear her own to sleep.

"What's wrong?"

It was too early for her to have had a nightmare. Django was fairly certain she hadn't even been asleep yet, seeing as he'd just settled himself. 

"We have to open the restaurant tomorrow. Go to bed."

She fidgeted, but didn't leave. He sighed. 

"Okay, come here then."

Her feet were cold when she climbed under the blankets and rolled against him, shifting a few times until she was comfortable. Django was selfish enough to admit that he felt better having her there, tucked against him. 

"You're killing me, baby girl."

She peered up at him, head tilted to press a kiss to the underside of his chin before she settled again.

Django let out a long breath, tightened the hold he had around her and couldn't sleep long after she'd drifted off.

***

Django was relieved, a week later, when Sonia came into work and announced she was getting married. 

"Took him long enough," he teased. 

_Not gentleman._

Sonia let out a startled laugh and laid a hand on her stomach. 

"Yeah. Django, I'm gonna need some time off."

"Oh no," he said. That had not occurred to him. 

_Can clean tables,_ Maya offered.

"You gonna take orders, too?"

He and Sonia both laughed at the face she made.

***

She came down the stairs one morning while he was making breakfast, hair tousled and face still lined from the creases of his pillow, looking miserable. She refused to sleep in her own bed anymore and instead wormed her way into his arms each night. 

It was killing him, to have her so close and not have her _closer._

She crowded against him and hugged tight around his chest, eyes leaking.

"Oh no, baby girl, did you have nightmare?"

She sighed and shook her head and pulled away to go sit at the table. He watched her fiddle with the chalkboard for a while, waiting for her to explain, but she set it down with a frown and looked up to meet his eyes.

“I wasn’t even born.”

The sound of her voice after months of her following him around like a ghost startled him so badly he dropped the spatula he was holding. He found himself on his knees and clutching her hands.

“I’m just a construct," she explained, voice hoarse with misuse and hardly a whisper, "designed by a _computer_ . I _was built_.”

Django pulled her from the chair and held her to his chest even as he sat on the floor, so relieved to hear her speak again. She kept talking, trying to tell him everything at one, but he smoothed one hand over her face and didn't hear any of it.

"Later, baby girl," he said, "later."

***

"They kept me drugged, I guess. I kind of remember them talking about doing something to like," she shook her hands around her head, "make me forget, but I don't know if they ever did? I guess they must have. I feel like I still don't remember everything. I kind of think they held me at some facility for a while, before we started into the Peripheries."

"The drugs made me pretty sick. At the end, when I was starting to remember, I couldn't… I couldn't. Aadit, um, thought it was pretty funny. He started just wearing the Knight outfit all the time, but he'd also act concerned and helpful and doting and I was so confused that I'd buy into it and start to forget again."

"What did they want?" Mali asked gently. 

"That robot you saw. And the other weapons like it, I guess? Aadit told me they had found, uh, records about it, but they could never find where it was. That's why they were here, looking for the All Source. They wanted her to tell them."

"Do you know why they needed you?"

"I think because of the way the AI in the ruins here recognized me? And then that one told us that my file had _come from_ the site they were looking for. They kept telling me they wanted me to help them open it, which I don't really get because Aadit basically tore the place up when I locked him out. I think… I think he saw me as another weapon, something else he could control. I don't know. And then right at the end it turned out that they couldn't have done anything without me, anyway."

Maya's breathing became more and more ragged, the longer she talked, her shoulders up around her ears and clutching at her stomach. Django wanted nothing more than to hide her away so she wouldn't have to relive what she'd been through.

"I think that's enough for today," he said, putting his hand on her knee.

"But I didn't even tell you how I rode a giant snake!" Maya protested. "That's, like, my favorite part."

Mali chuckled.

"He's right. I don't really need anything else, anyway. The ruin is, hah, ruined and you're home safe."

Maya nodded and they all stood, Sam and Remington passing her between them for a round of hugs.

"Atara might have more questions."

"Tell them I won't talk to anyone but you," Maya said.

"Job security, I like it."

***

He watched her hover around his bed while he settled under the blanket and arranged the pillows, looking uncertain.

"What's wrong?"

"Can I sleep here?"

"You don't normally ask," he pointed out. She laughed and only hesitated for another moment before she joined him. He tugged at her when she kept a shy distance, pulling her close.

"Is it stupid that it felt easier when I wasn't talking? I wanted to be safe and you are safe and that's it."

He hummed and kissed the top of her head. 

"Nothing's changed," he promised.

"It feels like it _has."_

"I suppose there is usually less pillow talk."

"Django," she huffed, and thumped him on the chest. He chuckled and pulled her closer. 

"I'm right here."

"For how long?"

"Forever."

"You promise?"

"Yes."

"You _pinky_ promise?" she asked. Django could feel her grinning against his shoulder. He sighed. 

"On my honor as a Knight. I'm glad to have you. Right here."

Maya curled her fingers into his shirt.

"Me too."

***

Sonia made it into work one afternoon and Maya immediately caught his hand to tug him from behind the bar, waving to the other girl and gesturing between them then to the door. 

"Not talking today?"

Maya frowned and swallowed. There were still days when she never said a word, though Django thought that it was more the case that she was just used to silence, rather than she was relapsing back into her own head. 

Though there were still bad days when she'd stare off into the distance and not acknowledge anyone. 

They stood in the middle of the restaurant for a long moment while she worked at her jaw and clutched his hand like a lifeline. 

"Right. Words," she said eventually, "I need to go to the Museum."

Sonia smiled a little sadly, like she knew what that meant, while he watched the exchange baffled. 

"Go on, then. Say 'hi' for me."

They were silent, hand in hand, until the made it to Central Plaza. 

"I'm gonna talk to the AI," she explained, pushing at the museum doors. 

They walked to the second floor and she stood at the console for a long moment.

"You don't have to do this," Django offered, coming to stand beside her. The expression on her face, when she turned to him, was resigned and determined in equal parts. She took his hand and squeezed before she stepped away.

"Yeah, I do."

She plucked one rose and handed it to him while the vines withered and fell away, leaving just the dark monitor for her to lay a hand on. It came alive under her fingers, running through an initialization sequence before a digital face appeared on the screen. 

"Hello, mother," Maya greeted. 

_Oh,_ the AI said, with more emotion that Django could understand, _my sweet girl._

***

"What is this?" she asked, coming to settle in the chair across from him at the table. 

"What's what, baby girl?"

 _"This,"_ she repeated, gesturing between them, "this _thing._ I know you feel it and I'm pretty sure you've known about it since like, day one."

He sighed and dropped his head into his hand. She was so young. He didn't know how to explain that their magic was tied together, that she'd marked him as hers when she burned that sigil into his arm. 

He started when a marker rolled across the table and bumped into his elbow. When he looked up, she was watching him with the most mischievous smile on her face and held her wrist out for him.

"Lightning isn't free. It's just easy because it's _yours,"_ she said. "You should have told me."

***

He was hovering right at the edge of sleep when she flopped into bed and rolled to straddle him. His heart stuttered painfully and he grabbed her hips to keep her from moving. 

"Hey," she greeted, one hand braced on his stomach and the one with her, with _their_ sigils holding tight at his wrist. 

"Can I help you?"

"Tell me you love me," she requested. He closed his eyes and took a long moment to breathe.

"Baby girl," he said slowly.

"Django," she countered. He couldn't look at her. 

"You don't know what you're asking for."

She sighed and he opened his eyes to take her in.

"That isn't true. I followed the feel of you home. We had half of a bond and it was enough for me to _come back to you,_ when I was broken and didn't remember _anything._ I do know. I knew earlier. I know _now,_ with you _burned into my skin."_

"I'm an old man."

She laughed, humorless and disbelieving. 

"I'm way older than you."

"You know I love you. I've always loved you," he admitted, his voice softer than he intended. 

"Cool. I love you, too. Can we make out now?" she asked, and rocked against him. His mouth felt dry. He gripped her harder. 

"Is that all you want?"

"Well, I considered doing this without any clothes on, if that answers your question."

"That might have been a little forward."

"I can take them off now, if you like?"

"I'd rather undress you myself," he growled, pulling her down to lick his way into her mouth.

***

Sonia and Albert married on the first day of summer.

Django and Maya sat together at the front sat for the ceremony, and he held Maya's hand and pretended he wasn't crying. Sonia looked so beautiful, glowing with happiness and pregnancy.

Afterward, she pressed her bouquet into Maya's hands. 

"Your turn. Another shot at happily ever after."

Maya laughed in her friend's face, but turned to look at him.

"Well, what do you say, baby girl? You already moved in."

"I don't believe in happily ever after anymore."

"We can work on that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. Okay, first let me just like extra shout out to everyone who left me comments on this. I hope the story was worthy of your time, and that you enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun writing it. Second, I know that I said I was like... only gonna do 11 chapters, but... I wrote this one from Django's perspective because it didn't work from Maya's, but then I was like, no, I want to write Maya too.......... so I'm gonna add a chapter 12, but it'll cover most of the same stuff and then explain some other things, I guess. 
> 
> And sex. 
> 
> Painfully vanilla sex, which isn't really in, but what can you do. Uh... so I'll publish that probably later tonight or tomorrow.


	12. After, Maya

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: smut in this chapter. Kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, I'm so sorry. I know I promised this to you earlier, but it turns out writing smut is hard (haha, no pun intended), and then (tmi warning) I got my period and ain't nobody feels sexy when that happens.

She regarded herself in the bathroom mirror and winced. She'd regained some of the weight she'd lost during her time in… in… 

She shied away from thinking of thinking of it as captivity. She shied away from a lot of words that were probably, rightfully hers. Like victim. Like widow. 

Aadit was gone, and Aadit had done a lot of horrible things to her, but it still _hurt_. It was still… she had still loved him. She still had to carry that. She still wondered if any of it was ever real. 

Maya sighed and wrapped the towel around her hair and went to join Django, who was just starting to prepare for bed. 

"All good, baby girl?"

She gave him the biggest smile she had energy for and climbed under the blanket of her bed. It wasn't all good. She felt empty being on the other side of the room from him. Her bed felt cold. She tried to settle, because she was still tired, she was always tired, but it was useless. 

After a few minutes of doubt and hesitation, she rolled back out of bed. 

"What's wrong?" Django asked, his voice a little cloudy with sleep. Maya found herself fidgeting at the side of his bed. 

"We have to open the restaurant tomorrow. Go to bed."

His voice was gentle. His voice was always gentle. He treated her like she was made of glass and he was afraid she would break. 

"Okay. Come here then," he told her, and she almost didn't realize that was what she'd been waiting for. She huddled against him and clutched at his shirt and tucked her head up under his chin, and he wrapped an arm around her like that was what he was meant for. 

She had remembered him. She'd come home for him. 

"You're killing me, baby girl," he whispered. She didn't know how. Was he not as comforted as she was when she was pressed close and somehow not close enough?

She shifted and tilted her head up to kiss his chin. 

***

She couldn't sleep, after that, when she wasn't near him. The thing that she felt twining in her gut, the very feeling she had followed like a lost lamb back to Portia, wouldn't allow it. 

Instead, every night she stood at the side of his bed until he looked at her and then crawled across the mattress to huddle against him. Sometimes he sighed, but usually he folded her into his arms like she belonged there. 

She _did_ belong there. She could feel it as surely as she could feel her heart beating, as close to being whole as anything she'd ever known.

***

One morning she woke and knew she couldn't live anymore if he didn't know what she was. 

She trudged down the stairs in a haze, heart in her throat and dreading the words when she hugged him as tight as she could and didn't let go. 

"Oh no, baby girl, did you have a nightmare?" he asked. 

She sighed and shook her head and moved away. She'd had no nightmare. Or rather, she _had,_ but it was the kind that happened in the waking world. 

She sat at the table feeling, cowardly while she fiddled with the chalkboard. She could just just write it. There was no need to just put the words out there. She pressed it down to the table. 

Django deserved better. He deserved to _hear_ it, from her own mouth, not just something he read aloud. He deserved to know the kind of monster she was. 

"I wasn't even born," she said after a few tries of moving her lips without her vocal chords involved. Gods, but she hadn't heard her own voice in months. The sound was raspy and alien, an unknown intrusion into the air. 

The clatter of the spatula on the floor was louder than she had been and he came across the room to grab her hands and pull her to the floor.

"I'm just a construct. Designed by a _computer_ . I _was built."_

She didn't even know if that made her human, if she could still wear that title. She kept talking, she was trying to _explain,_ but Django grabbed her face and shook his head and there were tears in his eyes. 

"Later."

***

Her heart was in her throat as the All Source woke. 

"Hello, mother."

_Oh,_ the AI said, just as emotional as Maya felt, _my sweet girl._

Django left, sometime later, with a kiss to her cheek and a promise to see her at home. It took a moment to realize the pain in her heart was because she hadn't been apart from him in months. 

"Do you uh, I know she told me she was part of the All Source, but do you know what happened?"

_Yes. There was time for a satellite transmission before the facility went dark. I'm glad you're safe._

"Thank you. For, uh, grabbing me. I don't remember it very well, but that giant…machine saved my life."

_I didn't do that,_ the AI told her, sadly, _I can't control it. You saved yourself._

"Oh," she said. 

_There is so much I meant to tell you. I suppose we have time, now._

"Yeah. Hey, can you tell me about the woman you, uh, released me to? She uh, died a few years back."

_Of course._

***

Django was home, like he promised, and something settled in her chest to see him at the table. She considered his back for a moment, went to rummage around in the junk drawer for a moment, and then plopped down across from him. 

"What is this?" she asked.

She didn't need him to tell her, she _knew,_ and she knew that he knew. 

Thinking back to all the times he had a _theory_ about what was happening, thinking back to the way he'd reacted when she had practically _branded_ him, thinking back…

The first time she had ever used lightning, she'd been thinking of him. Sparks. A storm. 

_The Storm Knight._

Maybe there was a difference between using lightning and using fire, and maybe it was true what he'd said about lightning being in the air, but she was calling bullshit on the cost. 

She realized with a start that he had used barrier and they'd never talked about it. She hadn't even questioned it, because it felt _right._

When he didn't grab the marker she rolled to him, she got up and moved to his side. 

"Do it."

***

"I'd rather undress you myself," he growled, and that made her shiver. When he pulled her down and brought his mouth to hers, one of her hands gripped his shoulder and the other braced on her elbow beside his head.

"Baby girl," he groaned when she rolled her hips again. She liked the way he sounded when he called her that, when his voice was rough with tension and he was mouthing at her neck. 

Maya sat back and let her hands wander where they wanted, across his chest to feel the muscle of his shoulders and then down his arms and up again to trace his checks with her thumbs. He watched her, eyes half lidded and hands rubbing up and down her sides. 

She wanted him. She wanted him so badly it scared her, made her stomach twist with nerves and anticipation and hesitation. 

"Maya?" he asked, when her hands shook and she stilled. 

"I thought you were going to undress me?"

She half fell away when he moved to sit up and leaned against the headboard.

"Come here," he whispered, holding out his arms for her, and she threw a knee across his lap and settled with his erection causing _just_ the right amount of friction with their clothes still between them. For a moment neither of them moved and Maya felt her tension melting away as he held her tightly, the kind of relief that had her taking a shaky breath. 

"We don't have to do this."

This. _This._ Thinking about _this_ made her heart flutter and her stomach clench and had her shifting against him to feel more of _this._

"I stole condoms from Sonia, though."

"You… what?"

"Well she doesn't _need_ them anymore," Maya defended. Django moved his hands down her back, fingers teasing at the hem of her shirt, and shifted against her. 

"Do you have any idea what it does to me," he began, one hand finding the skin of her back and dragging his nails softly along her spine while the other pulled her closer so he could nose at the hair around her ear, "that you wear my clothes? That you wear my clothes, in my bed, pressed against me?"

Maya moaned. That hadn't occurred to her before. She was dressed in his shirt, her nipples rubbing against fabric that _he_ wore, shorts he used when he was lazing around the house bunching up at her thighs. 

"I _thought_ you were going to _undress_ me."

He chuckled and pulled slowly, so slowly, at the back of her shirt, grabbing the collar to ease it over her head. For a moment her hands fluttered at her stomach, at the ugly scar there, before he caught them and settled them back on his shoulders. 

"None of that now," he murmured. 

She had tried to heal it, when the monstrous robot rose like a Titan from the rubble and deposited her on the ground before it went dark. All she'd managed was the pull the skin together, to keep herself from bleeding to death and to hold it from reopening, but it was too late now to fix the scar. Too late with her feet finally back under her. 

"None of that, baby girl."

"Django."

She tugged at the shirt he wore and rose on her knees to pull it over his head, feeling brave and wanton when she rubbed her breasts against his chest and settled in his lap again.

He rolled her onto her back and her heart sputtered in loss when he pulled away.

"Where are they?"

Maya blinked and then pointed to the nightstand. 

"Really?"

"I figured no loss if you found them?"

He chuckled and climbed back onto the bed, crawled up between her knees and fingered the hem of her shorts. 

"May I?"

She shifted her hips and he slipped the fabric off, leaving her a little chilled in just her panties. 

"Oh, baby girl," he whispered, and rubbed a thumb between her legs. She was soaked, she _wanted,_ and when he pressed just a little harder, when he slipped one finger around and _in,_ she found herself making the most embarrassing noises. 

He tugged at the slip of fabric and she let him remove them to be discarded. 

"That makes you incredibly overdressed," she commented, and snapped her knees shut until he huffed and moved away to strip out of his own pants. 

Maya sat and reached a hand to grab him, the other holding the bone of his hip. Hot and silken, heavy and right in her fingers. She pumped once, watching for his reaction, and then again, twisting her hand and smearing pre-cum across his tip with her palm. 

"Lay down."

"No, I want-"

"Lay _down,"_ he urged, a gentle hand at her shoulder to guide her back to the pillows. 

She didn't know how his hands were so steady with the foil wrapper, how he didn't fumble the little strip of latex he unrolled over his cock. 

Her breath came in short pants, the very core of her warm and wet and _aching._

She realized she was scared. What they were doing was so much bigger than she knew how to handle. 

She knew how to have sex, but there was sex and then there was sex with a side of… whatever they had between them.

"Wait," she begged when he drew himself through her folds to coat the length in slick. He stopped suddenly and would have pulled away if not for the grip she had on him. 

"We can stop," he offered. 

Her heart was beating so hard that she didn't know what she wanted. A very small part of her wanted to quit, to come back again when she was feeling braver, but the rest of her didn't _want_ him to stop, just wanted him to wait before he _carried on._

"No," she shook her head, "just… give me a second."

He teased over her skin, massaging her breasts and tweaking one nipple with warm hands, leaving goosebumps wherever he touched.

The bond they shared was alive and searing and _whole_ , and when she tugged on it lightning erupted along his skin. That made Maya huff. Normally she was the one who couldn't control her magic.

He bracketed her head with his forearms and bit at her lip, the kiss messy and desperate and so completely uncomposed that it left her squirming and scratching at his shoulders.

"Don't do that, baby girl," he warned, voice deep and thick. 

"Why not?"

She _felt_ it when he tugged back. Her back arched off the mattress in unexpected pleasure, every nerve singing in praise of him. It left her shaking, warmth coiled low in her gut and so close to the edge she could cry. 

"Oh Gods, now Django," she whined. 

"Are you sure?" he asked, but he was already leaned back and lining himself up. 

"Yes," she breathed, "yes."

She'd like to look back and say it was perfect, but it wasn't, not at first. It hurt a little, uncomfortable when he pushed in the tip and stilled, caught just inside of her when she inhaled sharply. He moved slowly, so painfully slowly, until he was pressed against the back of her thighs and she felt so full. 

When he leaned to brace himself above her, she shifted her hips just a little and pressed her head hard against the pillow when he sucked at the skin on her throat. That angle, right there, was _almost_ enough, pressed right up against something that felt breathless and dangerous. 

She didn't know what to do with her hands, wanted them to be everywhere, wanted to feel the muscle in his shoulders and arms, wanted to touch his chest, touch his face. He was so tense, restrained, whispering nonsense into her hair while he gave her time to adjust.

He'd never been more beautiful. 

"Baby girl."

"Yeah. Yes. Come on," she urged, bringing one leg up to wrap around his back while she caught his mouth for a kiss. "Come on, come on, move."

He did, slowly, so slowly, one arm still braced beside her with his fingers curled into her hair and the other gripping at her hip.

"Please, please, please," she begged. She didn't know what she wanted, but gods did she want it. He was moving faster, smooth and just a little irregular, and she bit at his collar bone to muffle a whine. 

"Tell me."

"Right there."

She was so close, coiled tight like a compressed spring, holding onto him like she life depended on it. It was a toss up what was hotter, the concentration on this face or the way he felt inside her or the little grunts he was making. 

Oh, the sounds he was making. 

"Come on, then," he urged, and she was in the middle of huffing out a laugh when he switched the angle _just a little_ and that was _it._

"Oh fuck," she moaned, tensing up around him and digging her nails into his back, arched up and pulling him down closer. He slowed just a little, riding it out with her, and then he growled into her hair and followed her over. 

He grabbed the base of the condom and pulled out, flopping onto his back beside her. 

"Baby girl."

"I don't think my knees work," she complained.

"Good."

***

Maya held his hand and let him pretend he wasn't crying even though she was handing tissues to him. Albert looked gobsmacked when Sonia approached him and she was truly a vision, her white dress against her tan skin and her hair braided up with white and gold feathers (which had taken Maya _hours_ to achieve that morning).

"Your turn," Sonia said while Maya wrapped her fingers around the bouquet the other woman had all but shoved in her face.

Maya didn't know what it said about her that her first instinct was to laugh semi-hysterically and then her second instinct was to spin and look at Django. He was watching her, expression amused and maybe hopeful, and it made her heart thud. 

"We can work on that," he promised. 

Maya floated to him, imagining him in shining armor as he folded her into his arms.

_("Where is your Knight to save you now?")_

_'Right here,'_ she thought, tightening her fingers in Django's red coat. 

Still, happily ever after? Well…

_'Maybe,'_ she grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually almost chickened out if posting this, because I'm pretty sure it's crap, but... Man, I don't know why I wanted to write it so badly. 
> 
> Anyway. That's it for Peripheral. 
> 
> Thanks for sticking around guys!


End file.
